Pressroom

Source: West Virginia Public Broadcasting

By: McCormick, Liz

06/17/2014

Measles was a hot topic at the recent Immunization Summit in Charleston, W.Va., where 250 school nurses, public and private health care providers, state health officials, and others discussed how the state can combat vaccine-preventable diseases. Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said measles is the biggest worry. “We’re at a twenty-year high with measles, and the biggest outbreak is right next door in Ohio. Unfortunately, West Virginia has pretty low vaccine coverage against measles,” she said. “I would encourage everybody to make sure their kids have gotten the recommended vaccine doses.” Schuchat said the United States has mostly curtailed the spread of measles within the country, but unvaccinated individuals from Ohio brought the disease back to their communities from the Philippines, where they were doing mission work.