According to the U,S, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the ongoing outbreak of measles that began in southern California and which is currently spreading across the nation, no one knows where the current outbreak started from. The CDC report is titled “Measles Outbreak — California, December 2014–February 2015.”
Measles is a highly contagious infection caused by the measles virus. Symptoms include cold-like symptoms, red eyes and sensitivity to light, a high temperature (fever), greyish white spots in the mouth and throat. After a few days, a red-brown spotty rash will appear. In certain parts of the world, measles is one of the leading causes of death among young children.
In attempted to find out the point of origin, California public health authorities genotyped virus samples from 30 measles patients. However, the genetic results did not reveal the source of the outbreak. All 30 specimens were measles genotype B3, which has caused a large outbreak recently in the Philippines.This type of measles has also been detected in at least 14 countries and at least six U.S. states in the last 6 months.
In addition to California, measles has been reported, as indicated by the World Health Organization (WHO), in the District of Columbia, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Washington.
As of mid-February, The Washington Post notes, 121 cases had been reported so far. It seems that experts are unclear where it all started from and how it came to appear in Disneyland.
