California: Whooping Cough(01 of10)
Open Image ModalBy mid-2011, California already had some 2,000 cases of whooping cough -- 70% percent in infants under two months. \n\nWhooping cough -- also known as pertussis -- is prevented by the \"P\" (for pertussis) in the DPT vaccine. Babies are too young to receive vaccinations, but they can remain protected if older siblings and others around them are vaccinated. \n\nAs of August, there haven\'t been any fatalities in 2011, though there were 10 last year. A new law requires students in 7th through 12th grades to get booster shots before entering school in 2011.\n\nMore from Health.com:\n\n12 Vaccines Your Child Needs\n12 Myths and Facts About Vaccines\n15 Tips for Avoiding Hotel Bedbugs\n (credit:Thinkstock)
Minnesota: Measles(02 of10)
Open Image ModalMinnesota has had at least 23 cases of measles in 2011, mostly in Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis. In one week, 17 cases were reported. \n\nThe outbreak started when a 30-month-old child returned from Kenya and infected three children at a child-care center and one person who lived with him. That person went on to infect others. \n\n\"Measles is remarkably contagious,\" says Melinda Wharton, M.D., deputy director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. \n\n\"You can contract measles from a room where someone with measles has been. It\'s possible to walk through an airport and get measles.\"\n (credit:Thinkstock)
British Columbia: Mumps(03 of10)
Open Image ModalIn Canada, at least 77 people in Vancouver and other areas of British Columbia came down with mumps. Mumps is a viral illness that causes face pain and swelling of the salivary glands and testicles. It\'s prevented by the second \"M\" in the MMR shot. \n\nThe outbreak, mostly in young adults, was the first sizable one in the region since 2008, according to the local department of health. \n\nIn the U.S., mumps outbreaks tend to occur on college campuses, at boarding schools and in other settings with close quarters, Dr. Wharton says.\n (credit:Thinkstock)
Pennsylvania: Measles(04 of10)
Open Image ModalPennsylvania has had 13 cases of measles this year, as of August 2011, compared with two in 2010. \n\nOne person, diagnosed in July, may have initially exposed people in a Morgantown drugstore to the rash-causing virus. \n\nSince then, authorities have been tracking down people in four different counties who came into contact with the patient at restaurants, a bank, a liquor store, a grocery and a Starbucks.\n (credit:Thinkstock)
New York: Measles(05 of10)
Open Image ModalNew York State has had at least 13 measles cases in New York City alone in 2011. Half of the cases in NYC were international travelers, according to the city\'s Department of Health. \n\nNone of the cases were fatal. But international travel is so risky in terms of measles that health authorities now recommend that 6-to-11-month-old babies, who are usually considered too young to get the shot, be inoculated before going abroad, says Dr. Wharton. \n\nThose children still need to get the normal two doses as planned, the first after their first birthday.\n (credit:Thinkstock)
Australia: Whooping Cough(06 of10)
Open Image ModalA newborn died of pertussis in Melbourne early in 2011, the first such death since 2004, according to Australian news sources. \n\nMore than 21,000 cases of pertussis have been reported in Australia so far in 2011. In 2010 there were 34,790 cases for the entire year. \n\nNearby New Zealand has also had several recent outbreaks.\n (credit:Thinkstock)
Indiana: Measles(07 of10)
Open Image ModalIndiana had at least 14 measles cases in 2011, mostly in the northeastern part of the state. \n\nFour cases were adults and the rest were people under 18. These are the first measles cases in Indiana since 2006, according to the Department of Health. \n\nMeasles protection requires two shots four weeks apart. One dose offers 92 percent protection, which is why two doses is the standard, says James Conway, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health, in Madison.\n (credit:Thinkstock)
Europe: Measles(08 of10)
Open Image ModalEurope experienced a widespread measles epidemic in 2011. \n\nIn the first four months of the year alone, 33 countries reported more than 6,500 cases. France had the most, with nearly 5,000 people infected from January through March. \n\nHowever, Belgium, Bulgaria, Serbia, Spain, and Turkey, among other nations, have reported cases since the outbreak began in September 2010.\n (credit:Thinkstock)
Australia: Measles(09 of10)
Open Image ModalMeasles is also a problem in Australia, with some 122 cases reported for this year, as of August 2011, compared with 69 in 2010 and 105 in 2009. \n\nSydney, the nation\'s largest city, has had dozens of cases. \n\nOne health alert was issued in April in the state of Victoria after four people infected with measles disembarked an Air Asia flight from Malaysia in Melbourne. That state has had 30 cases this year.\n (credit:Thinkstock)
California: Measles(10 of10)
Open Image ModalCalifornia has seen at least 20 cases of measles in 2011, compared with 27 in all of 2010 and nine in 2009. Seven children and 13 adults fell ill, but there have been no deaths so far, according to the California Department of Health. \n\nThe cases weren\'t connected to each other, but were imported by travelers who had been in Europe, Asia or Africa. \n\n\"We declared that measles had been eradicated in this country,\" says Dr. Conway. \"Now we\'ve already had more this year than any other already than 1996.\" As of August 2011, 154 cases of measles had been reported in the U.S.\n\nMore from Health.com:\n\n12 Vaccines Your Child Needs\n12 Myths and Facts About Vaccines\n15 Tips for Avoiding Hotel Bedbugs\n\n (credit:Thinkstock)