There are already more cases this year than there were in all of 2023.
Cases of measles are ticking up. According to the Centers for Disease Control, there have already been more measles patients this year than there were in all of 2023.
We’re taking a closer look at what’s driving the spread and which states have seen outbreaks so far.
How many people have had measles this year?
There have been 64 cases so far, per the CDC, while last year there were just 58 in total. Many of the people who’ve been infected are unvaccinated children. According to the agency, the highly contagious virus has cropped up in 17 states this year: Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, and Florida.
Measles is a respiratory illness that can spread easily among people who haven’t been immunized. It’s estimated that individuals without immunity have a 90 percent chance of catching it if they’re exposed, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, said on X this week.
Measles begins as a respiratory infection, causing a fever, cough, runny nose, and a distinctive rash that typically first appears on the face and behind the ears before migrating down to cover the rest of the body. It can be deadly, especially in children, and before a vaccine was introduced in the ‘60s, it killed millions each year, according to the World Health Organization.
“As dangerous as measles is, we have the tools to protect our children from this virus,” Dr. Murthy said, urging parents to vaccinate their kids. “Let’s make sure we use them to keep our kids and our communities safe.”
What’s behind the measles outbreak?
Experts say a couple of things are at play. Many of the patients in the U.S. may have caught measles abroad to destinations like the U.K. and the Philippines, where cases are rising. Earlier this month, the CDC recommended children older than six months get vaccinated before leaving the country, although the first of the two-course measles, mumps, and rubella shot (MMR) isn’t typically administered to kids until they’re 1.
Routine immunizations, including the two-dose regimen that protects against measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), were stalled by the pandemic, The New York Times reports. There’s also the issue of vaccine hesitancy. CDC data shows that the number of vaccine exemptions is rising, meaning that just 93 percent of U.S. kindergarteners have their MMR shots. That’s down from 95 percent — the level at which a community is considered protected against measles — in the 2019-2020 school year.
Still, experts say parents shouldn’t panic. Cases are still way below the last serious outbreak in 2019 when nearly 1,300 people were infected. Demetre Daskalakis, MD, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told the New York Times that this uptick should “alert us, rather than alarm us.”
