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Tuesday, November 5, 2024

CDC Reports More Measles Cases in First Quarter Than in All of 2018

The number of measles cases in the United States so far this year, as tallied through last Thursday, have already passed the total number of reported cases in all of 2018, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC attributes such a spike, in general, to “an increase in the number of travelers who get measles abroad and bring it into the U.S.,” as the disease is still common in many locations across the globe, and/or “further spread of measles in U.S. communities with pockets of unvaccinated people.”

From Jan. 1 to March 28, 2019, 387 measles cases have been confirmed in 15 states — “the second-greatest number of cases reported in the U.S. since measles was eliminated in 2000,” the CDC noted.

In 2018, there were 372 cases fueled by 17 outbreaks, with three of those — New York State, New York City, and New Jersey — accounting for most of the cases. Health officials also noted the great number of imported cases last year — 82, the most since 2000. These occurred mostly among unvaccinated people from Orthodox Jewish communities who visited Israel, where an outbreak has been happening.

Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas, and Washington state have reported measles cases to the CDC this year. Outbreaks, which include three or more cases, have been identified in Rockland County, N.Y., New York City, Washington state, New Jersey, Santa Cruz County, Calif., and Butte County, Calif.

The outbreaks have been linked to travelers bringing measles back from countries currently suffering large outbreaks, including Israel, Ukraine, and the Philippines.

The worst year for measles this decade has been 2014, with 667 cases linked to an outbreak in the Philippines and the spread of the disease among unvaccinated Amish communities in Ohio.

“The majority of people who got measles were unvaccinated,” the CDC stressed. “…Measles can spread when it reaches a community in the U.S. where groups of people are unvaccinated.”

Bridget Johnson
Bridget Johnson
Bridget Johnson is the Managing Editor for Homeland Security Today. A veteran journalist whose news articles and analyses have run in dozens of news outlets across the globe, Bridget first came to Washington to be online editor and a foreign policy writer at The Hill. Previously she was an editorial board member at the Rocky Mountain News and syndicated nation/world news columnist at the Los Angeles Daily News. Bridget is a terrorism analyst and security consultant with a specialty in online open-source extremist propaganda, incitement, recruitment, and training. She hosts and presents in Homeland Security Today law enforcement training webinars studying a range of counterterrorism topics including conspiracy theory extremism, complex coordinated attacks, critical infrastructure attacks, arson terrorism, drone and venue threats, antisemitism and white supremacists, anti-government extremism, and WMD threats. She is a Senior Risk Analyst for Gate 15 and a private investigator. Bridget is an NPR on-air contributor and has contributed to USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, New York Observer, National Review Online, Politico, New York Daily News, The Jerusalem Post, The Hill, Washington Times, RealClearWorld and more, and has myriad television and radio credits including Al-Jazeera, BBC and SiriusXM.

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