What’s Behind the Latest Measles Outbreaks? Oct. 20, 2011 -- Safety concerns about the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine helped fuel a measles outbreak this year in Minnesota. It was the country’s largest measles outbreak since 1996.

Research on the outbreak is slated to be presented Saturday at an infectious diseases meeting.

From January to July, 174 cases of measles were reported in the U.S. In Minnesota, 26 people contracted measles from February through April, says Pam Gahr, MPH, an epidemiologist with the Minnesota Department of Health. Patients ranged in age from 4 months to 51 years, and all of the cases occurred in two counties in metropolitan Minneapolis-St. Paul.

“Quite a few of the children were not old enough to be vaccinated,” she says. “That we can’t do much about. There are always going to be susceptible babies.”

Sixteen of the children were hospitalized, but all recovered. In each of the affected counties, Gahr says, the outbreak was started by an unvaccinated child who became infected while in Kenya, where it’s endemic.

Of the 26 cases, eight were Somalis, Gahr says. Minnesota has the largest Somali population in the United States, estimated to number 25,000 to 40,000.

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