The number of measles cases in the U.S. keeps going up. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this year’s total has already topped 2023’s.
The CDC confirmed on March 21 that 64 cases of measles have been recorded in 17 states and cities. These states and cities are Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York City, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington.
A total of 58 cases were found in the United States in 2023, according to the CDC.
On March 18, the CDC put out a health warning to warn people, especially children and people traveling between countries, about the rise in cases in the U.S. and around the world and to encourage them to get vaccinated.
“Measles (rubeola) is highly contagious; one person infected with measles can infect 9 out of 10 unvaccinated individuals with whom they come in close contact,” the CDC’s health alert said.
Who is getting the Measles?
The CDC said that most of the cases were linked to traveling abroad and having kids 12 months or older who have not had the measles vaccine. The government body says that measles outbreaks are happening in a lot of places, such as Austria, the Philippines, Romania, and the UK.
While the high number of cases is worrying, the CDC said that “high population immunity against measles in most U.S. communities, the risk of widescale spread is low.” The agency says that some areas may be more likely to have outbreaks if they have “low coverage” of people who have been vaccinated.
The head of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, told the New York Times that the rise in cases should “alert us, rather than alarm us.”
Daskalakis says that parents should talk to their child’s doctor about shots. Daskalakis told the New York Times that getting parents to talk to doctors they trust about vaccinations can help in what he called a “uphill battle.”
“Because of the effect on trust in vaccines that we saw during and after Covid,” the doctor said, “I think we need to keep beating that drum.”
How does measles get spread?
The CDC says that measles is “an acute viral respiratory illness.”
The government said that measles can be “highly contagious” and cause “serious health complications, including pneumonia, encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), and death.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) says that measles is a virus that spreads through the air and usually affects kids 5 years old and younger.
What are the signs of having Measles?
The CDC says that a person has measles when they have a fever, cough, runny nose, and pink eye for two to four days before the rash shows up. The incubation period for measles from fever contact is usually about 10 days. The agency said that the first rash will show up about 14 days after the first exposure.
The WHO said that two shots of the vaccine can protect against measles.
The United Nations says that between 2000 and 2021, measles vaccinations prevented 56 million lives.