Measles became a nationally notifiable disease in the United States in 1912, meaning that health care providers and laboratories were required to report diagnosed cases. During the first decade of reporting, an average of about 6,000 measles-related deaths were reported annually.
In the 1950s, researchers found a way to isolate the measles virus in a patient's blood, and in the 1960s, they were successful in transforming the isolated virus into a vaccine. The vaccine was licensed and became part of the measles vaccination program, introduced in 1963.
Before the introduction of the measles vaccination program, according to the CDC, there was an estimated 3 to 4 million people getting infected with the disease yearly nationwide. Following this program the numbers of cases and deals from measles substantially dropped. In 1994 there were 963 reported cases, which fell to 508 cases in 1996.
Jump forward to 2000, when the disease was declared eliminated in the U.S and there were only 86 reported cases. This meant there had been no continuous transmission of the disease for over 12 months. These numbers only continued to plummet until a resurgence in 2014 where the country experienced 23 separate outbreaks, which occurred primarily among the unvaccinated Amish community.
In 2018 the U.S saw 17 separate outbreaks and the numbers continue to climb. According to the CDC, the disease was largely imported and spread among unvaccinated pockets: "Eighty-two people brought measles to the U.S. from other countries in 2018. This is the greatest number of imported cases since measles was eliminated from the U.S. in 2000."
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