U.S. measles cases continue to climb, with outbreaks across the country NPR
Nearly two months after a deadly, massive measles outbreak in Texas was
declared over, the highly contagious disease continues to spread across the country. The U.S. has now confirmed
1,563 cases this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the highest annual number
in more than three decades.
But the true total could be even higher, says
Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
"If you talk to people on the ground, including not only in Texas, but other states, they all say the same thing, which is that the numbers are much worse than that. Probably closer to 5,000 cases," Offit says. "And it's not done."
He points to the current outbreak in South Carolina, where more than 150 unvaccinated schoolchildren at two schools are now subject to a 21-day quarantine after being exposed to measles. The state Department of Public Health this past week
reported the eighth confirmed measles case since Sept. 25. Public health officials say it's not clear if that new case, in Greenville County, is linked to seven cases that are part of a current outbreak in neighboring Spartanburg County, S.C.
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Widespread vaccination in the U.S. has saved hundreds of lives each year
Measles is one of the most
contagious diseases known to humans. On average, an infected person will infect as many as 18 other unvaccinated people. A person with measles can emit infectious particles that linger in the air for up to two hours, long after they've left a room. That's why it's so highly transmissible.
Before widespread vaccination, pretty much everyone got measles in childhood. And 400-500 people in the U.S. used to die from it each year.
The disease was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000. To protect communities against outbreaks, they need a vaccination rate of 95%, according to the CDC.
Nationwide, measles vaccination rates have been slipping for years —
they're currently at 92.5%. The trend predates the current administration, but Dr. Adam Ratner, a pediatric infectious disease specialist in New York City, says it doesn't help that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a long history of criticizing vaccines. Ratner notes that acting CDC Director Jim O'Neill has suggested breaking up the standard measles, mumps and rubella vaccine
into three separate shots, which Ratner says is neither feasible nor is it backed by data.
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