Confirmed cases of measles in US have tripled in 2024

Previously eradicated in the United States, the CDC states there have already been 159 confirmed cases of the disease in 2024, almost triple the 2023 yearly total of 58.

Limp Bizkit is back on tour, The Phantom Menace returned to the box office this summer, and measles is once again widespread throughout the country. Previously eradicated in the United States, the CDC states there have already been 159 confirmed cases of the disease in 2024, almost triple the 2023 yearly total of 58. These confirmed cases are the result of 12 outbreaks spread across 23 states so far this year. With so many cases occurring so early in the year, the virus is poised to have a strong comeback tour of its own.

Measles is a virus that poses an extremely high risk for young children, causing a wide range of symptoms ranging from diarrhea, rash and headaches to pneumonia, encephalopathy and death. While it presents a risk for everyone, it is children under 5, pregnant women, and the immunocompromised who face the greatest risks from the disease. Like many viral contagions of yesteryear, vaccinations had rendered it almost nonexistent. In 2000, the CDC had even declared measles to be eliminated, meaning there had not been a transmitted case for over 12 months.

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Measles is especially dangerous due to how highly transmissible it is. Unlike other respiratory pathogens, such as influenza and pertussis, which require a respiratory droplet or secretion to ride on, measles can travel through the air alone on the infected individual’s breath. Measles is so contagious, that if one person in a room is positive, up to 90% of people in the same room could also be infected. The virus can live for up to the two hours on the air and surfaces after the infected have left the room, and subjects can be contagious for up to four days before symptoms appear.

The CDC states that of the 159 known cases of measles in the United States this year, 84% were either unvaccinated or had an unknown vaccination status, while only 11% were confirmed to have had at least one dose. The solution to this brewing pandemic is obvious, as the MMR vaccine effectively eliminated the virus once. Unfortunately, as we saw during the worldwide debacle that was COVID-19, convincing 100% of the population to get vaccinated will be easier said than done.

Vaccine hesitancy has always been present in some form or another in the United States. Unfortunately, while measles was eliminated in the United States, the same cannot be said for the rest of the world. The World Health Organization states that in 2022, worldwide measles rates increased 18% to 9 million confirmed cases. Furthermore, these cases resulted in 136,000 deaths, mostly among children. These deaths represented a 43% increase when compared to 2021.

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With the increased migration in recent years meeting an increasingly vaccine-wary American population, the two could combine to form an outbreak not seen in generations. Just this last March at a migrant shelter in Chicago, a measles outbreak began that has since spread to over 50 Chicagoans, with the majority of cases tracing back to one specific migrant shelter in the neighborhood of Pilsen. Other outbreaks this year include a children’s hospital in Philadelphia and an elementary school in Weston, Florida.