By Robin Foster HealthDay Reporter<\/b><\/p>\n
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MONDAY, April 22, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Measles infections continue to spread across the country, with 125 cases now reported in 18 states, new U.S. government data shows.<\/p>\n
That is more cases than were reported in all of 2022, the most recent annual peak for\u00a0measles infections,<\/ins> the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention reported<\/a> Friday. <\/p>\n So far this year, there have been seven outbreaks, with 69% of cases outbreak-associated, the CDC reported. For comparison, four outbreaks were reported during 2023, with 48% of cases outbreak-related.<\/p>\n Still, agency officials said they do not expect measles cases this year to top 2019, which was when health officials\u00a0last said<\/a><\/ins>\u00a0they feared the United States could lose its measles elimination status. That year, outbreaks among unvaccinated communities in New York drove the annual total to a record 1,274 cases \u00e2\u0080\u0094 the most seen since the 1990s.<\/p>\n The latest\u00a0estimate<\/a><\/ins>\u00a0predicts the United States will likely see 300 measles cases this year, which is still above most recent years.<\/p>\n Following a large measles outbreak in a migrant shelter in Chicago<\/a> that surfaced in March, Illinois\u00a0remains the state with the largest number of measles cases this year. Fortunately, that outbreak has slowed<\/a><\/ins>\u00a0following a major vaccination push.\u00a0<\/p>\n Massimo Pacilli<\/a>, deputy commissioner for the Chicago Department of Public Health, acknowledged CDC\u00a0reports<\/a><\/ins>\u00a0of higher rates of vaccinated people catching measles during the outbreak, which he attributed to the intense spread of the virus within the densely packed shelter.<\/p>\n “In this setting, we’re observing continuing protracted exposures. And so it is not completely unexpected to see a higher proportion of individuals who may have had a dose end up being infected with measles,” Pacilli told CBS News.<\/em><\/p>\n While infections in the shelter have declined, the city\u00a0warned<\/a><\/ins>\u00a0doctors on Friday that a growing number of cases have been reported in the region with no links to the shelter. <\/p>\n And last week<\/a><\/ins>, the CDC said that the ongoing “importations” of the virus through unvaccinated international travelers now pose a “renewed threat” to the U.S. status of having eliminated local spread of the virus, a designation it officially achieved in 2000.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Rapid detection of cases, prompt implementation of control measures and maintenance of high national measles vaccination coverage, including improving coverage in under-vaccinated populations, is essential to preventing measles and its complications and to maintaining U.S. elimination status,” the CDC forecasters wrote.<\/p>\n More information<\/strong><\/p>\n The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on the measles<\/a>.<\/p>\n