By GEIR MOULSON, Associated Press
BERLIN (AP) — An 18-month-old boy has died of measles in Berlin, the first known death in an outbreak of the disease that has seen more than 570 cases in the German capital since October.
An autopsy on the child, who died on Feb. 18 and wasn't immunized against measles, showed he had an unspecified medical condition, but it wouldn't have led to his death without the measles infection, the Charite hospital said Tuesday.
The German outbreak coincides with smaller ones in the United States, where 154 measles cases have been reported this year, three-quarters of them tied to an outbreak that started in Disneyland in December.
Authorities believe the Berlin measles infections began with a child from Bosnia whose family was seeking asylum. The highly contagious illness then spread, partly because many older adults in Germany were never immunized and many younger adults received only one vaccine instead of two, as is now recommended for full protection. About half of those infected were adults, officials said.
Although it's rare for measles to be fatal in developed countries, the disease remains one of the leading causes of death among young children globally, despite the availability of a safe and effective vaccine.
