NPR
U.S. measles cases hit highest level in 33 years, CDC rep...
The U.S. has hit an unwelcome milestone in measles cases this year. The CDC is reporting 1,288 cases across the country. The disease was declared eliminated 25 years ago.Since the start of the year, measles cases have been confirmed by more than three dozen states plus the District of Columbia. The largest outbreak by far is in Texas. The state has reported 753 measles cases this year. Across the U.S., 155 people have been hospitalized, and three people have died.
And while the Texas outbreak has slowed significantly, across the country, Rivers says the U.S. is now seeing more cases on a weekly basis than in previous years.
The Texas outbreak started in January. At one point, Rivers says, the state was reporting 15 to 20 new cases of measles per day, raising fears that, if the outbreak continued the U.S. would lose its "elimination" status, which is a technical term in public health that means the disease has not had a constant transmission for a 12-month period or longer. She says that's less likely to happen now, given that the state is only reporting a handful of cases per week.
But that doesn't mean it won't happen in the near future, says Dr. Adam Ratner, a pediatric infectious disease physician in New York City and the author of Booster Shots, a history of the fight against measles.
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