The outbreak began when unvaccinated Amish missionaries went to the Philippines. 155 people have caught the disease in ten days. Officials say that this was non unexpected because the virus' incubation period (how long it can be in the body while not producing symptoms) is up to 21 days. All cases have been within the Amish community, in 6 counties in Ohio. Measles is very contagious and the symptoms include fever, runny nose, reduced appetite and rash. Vaccination is any easy way to prevent the disease. There is a large outbreak of measles in the Phillipines at the time, with 20,000 or more cases. There have been 15 measles outbreaks in the U.S. this year.
It seems like the outbreak is contained for now. Hopefully it will not spread to any more places. I find it interesting that so many disease outbreaks seem to have popped up this year (or fairly new diseases, like MERS). I think that this is mostly due to Americans coming into contact with people all over the world, especially in places where not as many people get vaccines. We need better ways to control the spread of diseases between countries. But other than getting vaccines to more people, I'm not sure what that method would be.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/23/health/ohio-measles/index.html?hpt=us_c2
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