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airport measles

There is no scientific link between vaccines and autism, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Countless flyers may have been exposed to measles afterindividuals with the highly infectious virusentered at least five airports around the country this month, according to officials.

TheChicago Department of Public Health reporteda passenger with measles entering Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport twice in less than a week in mid-December. The unidentified traveler first entered the airport through Terminal 3 on December 12, then reentered through Terminal 1 five days later. Chicago has some of the highest rates of measles, mumps and rubella vaccination in the U.S.,ABC Newsnoted.

Another traveler with the virus enteredRichmond International Airport in Virginia on December 17. That same day, another infectious passenger entered the United Airlines gate area at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, according toAustin Public Health.

In early December, three unvaccinated children visited two U.S. airports after they returned home from a country with an ongoing measles outbreak.

On December 11, the children traveled through multiple areas of Denver International Airport, including the baggage and pickup area in Concourse A,Fox Newsreported.

They also traveled through Terminals 4 and 5 of Los Angeles International Airport during their trip home, theLos Angeles Department of Public Healthsaid.

As PEOPLE previouslyreported, some parents are choosing for themselves or their children to go unvaccinated, despite extensive researchproving the safety of the vaccine. This is partially due tothe spread of misinformation about the vaccine, which has led parents to opt-out of giving children the life-saving protections.

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While there are continued outbreaks in countries with low vaccination rates —the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, Myanmar, Philippines, Sudan, Thailand and Ukraine — they are also occurring in countries where the disease was thought to be eradicated, thanks to the measles vaccine.

source: people.com