[Phillips:] Medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining us now on this measles outbreak. Just when we thought it was gone.
[Gupta:] Right. I mean, people have been saying we are going to eradicate this. And now, we hear about nearly 70 cases in the first four months alone. So what is happening here? It may not surprise a lot of people that, in fact, a lot of people who have not been vaccinated, families have chosen not to get their kids vaccinated were starting to see some of the ramifications of that. So what is happening is that people who travel overseas, they'll go to certain hot spots like Israel, like Switzerland, the U.K., bring the measles back to the United States, and then you start to get clusters of this measles in various communities. What we know now is that there are approximately nine states that are affected by this, and we are starting to see clusters of cases. Take a look at the map there. Those are the nine states. More specifically, and this is important to New York State, 23 cases in New York State alone, 22 of those cases in New York City. Again, you know, we've talked about this a lot, Kyra, people choosing not to get vaccinated because of medical reasons, because of personal belief reasons. We know that all but one of those 64 cases were in people who were not vaccinated. The vaccines work and if you don't get them, you're obviously more at risk. This is a very contagious virus. In fact, they say, if you're in a room with somebody who has measles, and you have not been vaccinated, you have a 99 percent chance of getting it. So, you can get an idea of how the scope of this problem here.
[Phillips:] What do you mean by personal belief reasons?
[Gupta:] Well, so a lot of states basically say, look, people can choose whether or not to have their kids vaccinated. There can be medical reasons, obviously, if they have a weakened immune system, for example, but there's also personal belief exemptions. You just don't believe that the vaccine is right for your child. There are several states now around the country that will allow for that.
[Phillips:] So what do you do as a parent? How would you know if your child had the measles?
[Gupta:] Well, you know, I guess it's something that a lot of people have thought about for sometime since the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine became so popular, we haven't seen as many cases of measles. But it can start off, for example, as a runny nose. It can start off as something you know, look like a cold. But take a look at the pictures here. It is a pretty characteristic rash. Now you may remember some rashes that looked like this. It sort of starts off on the face and eventually starts to spread down the trunk. It's awful, and it lasts a few days. If it goes untreated, it can be very problematic, actually causing more severe side effects and in rare cases death, but that is that telltale rash that at one time was so common in this country.
[Phillips:] Is it painful?
[Gupta:] Yes, it's itchy. It's painful to some extent, and makes the kid very miserable for a while. We use to see millions of these cases of measles in this country, and now we see it in the tens or the hundreds. But still, eight years ago, a decade ago...
[Phillips:] Right.
[Gupta:] ... we thought we had it completely beaten.
[Phillips:] Interesting. Sanjay, thanks.
[Gupta:] Thank you.
[Roberts:] Thanks, Sanjay. The latest CNNOpinion Research Corporation Poll out today shows Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama locked in a dead heat among Democratic voters. This as Obama is closing the gap in the all- important superdelegate race. Just yesterday, former Democratic Party Leader Joe Andrew, a superdelegate, announced that he was switching sides and will now vote for Obama instead of Clinton. And that brings us to this morning's "Quick Vote" question. What should superdelegates base their votes on? Thirty-six percent of you say the candidate who has the most pledged delegates. Ten percent think local results should be the determining factor. Twenty-six percent say the overall popular voteam. We'd also like to hear from you via e-mail. Let us know what you think about the superdelegates and if you really want to get into like a lengthy essay, the Democratic system for nominating a presidential candidate. Does it work or should it all be changed? Go to CNN.comam.
[Phillips:] Influential Democrats say the nomination battle is killing their chance at winning the White House. Now, there's a move to get the superdelegates to make up their minds and end the fight. We're going to talk to an influential superdelegate who has switched sides straight ahead. And after two deadly crashes, the Air Force pulls some of its jets from the sky. We'll have that story also and today's headlines when AMERICAN MORNING continues.