SHILOH, Ohio — More than 360 cases of measles in Ohio’s Amish country is the nation’s largest in two decades, officials say.
It started after Amish travelers to the Philippines contracted measles this year and returned home to rural Knox County, where it spread thanks to a lower rate of vaccination and the difficulty public health authorities had in getting the word out to largely rural communities where phones are few and the Internet is nonexistent.
Health officials believe the outbreak is slowing in Ohio thanks to vaccination clinics and door-to-door visits by public health nurses.
U.S. measles cases are at their highest level since 2000, when the disease was declared eliminated. This year, 514 cases have been reported — more than double the previous high, in 2011.
The overwhelming majority of current infections occur in unvaccinated people, most of whom declined the injections for religious, philosophical or personal reasons, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Richland County public health nurse Sue McFarren said Amish have cooperated when they’re contacted.
