Map shows where measles outbreaks are spreading across US states
Measles are spreading at an alarming rate across the US, with the largest outbreak in western Texas leading to the death of a child who was not vaccinated.
So far this year, the US has already recorded the most measles cases in a year since a breakout of the disease in 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease that causes red rashes typically starting on the face and ears and spreading to the body down to the feet. It is most common among children and can be fatal.
The disease had not been widespread in the US for about two decades amid high vaccination rates.
Which US states have had a measles outbreak?
The measles outbreak in western Texas this week grew by 18 cases to 327 total, according to the Texas Department of State Health on Tuesday. The majority of patients have been children aged five to 17.
New Mexico has also recorded dozens of cases, 43, with the majority in Lea County which neighbors Texas’ Gaines County, the center of the outbreak.
Confirmed and probable measles cases have also grown in Oklahoma to nine.
A total of 378 measles cases have been confirmed this year in 17 states: Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont and Washington.
What has led to the rise in outbreaks?
The origin of the South Plains-Panhandle outbreak is still under investigation by Texas health authorities.
‘I cannot link this particular outbreak,’ Dr Jennifer Shuford of the Texas Department of State Health Services told the House Committee on Public Health earlier this month. ‘We don’t know what the link is.’
Most of the people infected with measles have not been vaccinated or have an unknown vaccine status. The CDC states that ‘when more than 95% of people in a community are vaccinated, most people are protected through community immunity (herd immunity).’
US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has a history of being a vaccine skeptic, in early March said he supported using the jab.
Who can get measles vaccine in the US?
The first dose of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is usually administered to children no younger than 12 to 15 months old. The second dose completing the series is given at four to six years old.
Some parents are vaccinating their kids under one year old in order not to leave them vulnerable.
Kennedy has said that the US health department is making the vaccines available to communities in need.
Children traveling to places including Texas and theme parks like Disney World are urged to take the vaccine.
How common are deaths from measles in the US?
Two people have died of measles in the US so far this year. The first was an unvaccinated six-year-old in Gaines County. Measles is also the suspected cause of the death of an adult who was not vaccinated in New Mexico.
The last death in America of measles was a 37-year-old California man in 2019 who also suffered from meningitis.
Measles deaths are not very common, but the CDC found that up to three of 1,000 infected children will die of related neurological or respiratory complications.
‘That’s a lot of kids infected… death is rare, but tragic when it happens, but there are a lot of other sequelae, encephalitis, for example, and deafness,’ stated UTHealth Houston infectious disease epidemiologist Dr Catherine Troisi. ‘There’s a rare neurological disease that can happen. So, as you have more people infected, these sequelae become more common.’
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