The number of measles cases recorded in the US this year is already triple the 2023 total, stunning new data revealed.
I188 measles cases across 26 states and Washington, D.C. – including one case upstate and 11 in New York City, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
The upstate case came in January, but two of the cases in the five boroughs were reported in the last 30 days, CDC data show.
In July alone, measles cases popped up in Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon and Vermont.
The Massachusetts case this month was the state’s first since early 2020.
CDC data show that cases spiked in late March, when 38 were reported in one week.
A smaller spike came the week starting July 7, when 12 cases were reported. Six cases were reported last week.
Children under 5 account for almost half of the cases in 2024.
No measles deaths were reported so far this year, but 93 patients were hospitalized, the CDC said.
Around 85% of those who contracted measles thus far in 2024 were either unvaccinated or had unknown vaccination status.
Many of the cases were also linked to international travel – suggesting that the disease was brought into the US from those infected elsewhere, the CDC said.
“We live in a global community where vaccination rates everywhere affect diseases that are transmitted in the United States,” Dr. Erica Prochaska, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, told NBC News.
“But the main issue is that in the United States, our population isn’t at the threshold of vaccination that we should be,” she added.
During the 2022-23 school year, 93% of US kindergarteners had received the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine – down from 95% in 2019-20.
Twelve states had vaccine rates below 90%.
The downturn is due in part to vaccine hesitancy bred by misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic, experts suggested.
There were 13 measles outbreaks so far in 2024, the largest of which ran through a migrant shelter in Chicago in March and contributed to nearly 60 cases, NBC reported.
Earlier this month, two people living in a Clinton Hill migrant shelter tested positive for measles, sending officials on a desperate mission to determine how many of the 3,000 residents had been exposed to the illness.
In 2023, there were only 58 measles cases in the US and four outbreaks.
This year’s numbers are the highest since 2019, when the US nearly lost its measles elimination status due to a spate of over 1,200 cases.
“Having this year be even worse than 2019 — there’s definitely potential for that,” Dr. David Hamer, a professor of global health and medicine at the Boston University School of Public Health, told NBC.
CDC data, however, indicates that a similar uptick is unlikely.
Measles cases worldwide increased 18% and measles deaths jumped 43% between 2021 and 2022, according to a joint report from the CDC and the World Health Organization.
Measles symptoms typically appear seven to 14 days after exposure to the virus.
Common signs include a high fever, cough, watery, red eyes, and a telltale rash.