Trending Clinical Topic of the Week (April 13-19): Measles
Concern about the resurgence of a disease that was nearly eradicated resulted in this week's top trending clinical topic. From 2000 to 2017, worldwide measles cases declined by 80%. However, an alarming 30% increase was observed from 2017 to 2018. In the United States, measles was declared a public health emergency in Washington State in January. Earlier this month, Mayor Bill de Blasio reacted to an ongoing outbreak in an Orthodox Jewish community by declaring an emergency in New York City. All told, the number of individual measles cases in the United States is the second highest since the disease was eliminated in 2000.
The World Health Organization describes various factors behind the worldwide resurgence of measles. In Europe and the United States, misconceptions and dangerous myths about vaccination are largely responsible for gaps in coverage. Other countries, such as Venezuela, are dealing with collapsing health systems or low immunization due to poverty. To combat at least some of these issues, the American Academy of Pediatrics has reached out to Google, Facebook, and Pinterest in the hope of prioritizing the truth about the safety of vaccination, including the fact that the vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella does not increase the risk for or trigger autism. Hopefully, the next time measles is a top trending clinical topic, the reason is the condition's return to near eradication.
Read more information on measles.
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Cite this: Ryan Syrek. Trending Clinical Topics for April 2019 - Medscape - Apr 26, 2019.
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