News from the FDA/CDC

Measles cases jumped 30% last week


 

The last week of February added 47 new cases of measles and another state to the 10 that already have reported cases in 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Number of measles cases reported to the CDC

Those new cases represent a 30% increase in measles cases for the year, bringing the total to 206 reported to the CDC through Feb. 28. After just 2 months, 2019 has had more cases than all but 3 other years over the last decade, CDC data show.

The 11th state to report a case of measles this year is New Jersey, which joins California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois (one outbreak), Kentucky, New York (three outbreaks), Oregon, Texas (one outbreak), and Washington (one outbreak), the CDC said.

The outbreak in Washington (4 new cases/70 for the year) had been the largest, but the majority of the new cases over the last 2 weeks have occurred in New York City, specifically Brooklyn, which reported 30 cases last week and 17 of the 32 new U.S. cases the week before.

Most of the 120 cases reported in the borough since the beginning of its outbreak in October of 2018 “have involved members of the Jewish Orthodox community. The initial child with measles was unvaccinated and acquired measles on a visit to Israel, where a large outbreak of the disease is occurring. Since then, there have been additional people from Brooklyn and Queens who were unvaccinated and acquired measles while in Israel. People who did not travel were also infected in Brooklyn or Rockland County,” the CDC said.

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