247 Cases of Measles in 10 States Are Traced to a Skier in Colorado

ATLANTA —  Federal health officials on Thursday blamed 247 cases of measles in 10 states on one skier who spent spring break at a Colorado resort.

The cases in April and May represent more than one-third--36%--of all measles cases in the first half of the year, though it was not the largest-ever outbreak, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Most of the victims were unvaccinated high school or college students, said Dr. Gail King of the CDC’s National Immunization Project.

The unidentified skier was probably free of symptoms during a late March vacation at Breckenridge, Colo., but passed the highly contagious disease to five others among the vacation crowd of 25,000, including a 14-year-old Illinois girl whose family follows Christian Science, a religion that shuns medical care, including inoculations.

The girl spread the disease to 51 people in her hometown of Elsah, Ill., near St. Louis, and started an outbreak that hit 156 people at her boarding school, The Principia, a 96-year-old school for Christian Scientists in a St. Louis suburb.

The outbreak eventually spread to Texas, Maine, California, New York, Washington, Maryland, Michigan, Colorado and Missouri as vacationing skiers returning home infected family and friends who were not vaccinated.

King expected no new measles cases from the outbreak. “The chain that started in Breckenridge has ended,” he said.

Though usually benign, measles can be fatal.