NEW YORK (AP) — Pennsylvania authorities said Monday that the state has surpassed 1,000 measles cases this year, making it the largest statewide outbreak in more than three decades.
The United States is experiencing its worst year for measles since 1991, with nearly 3,900 cases reported, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The country has logged eight measles-related deaths in the last two years, more than the total combined fatalities reported in the previous three decades.
Since the start of last year, large outbreaks have been reported in several states, including Texas and Utah, as well as in South Carolina, which had the largest tally, with 997 cases reported.
Health authorities say the Pennsylvania outbreak began in April, west of Philadelphia. There have been 1,004 cases, including 198 hospitalizations and five deaths, state officials said.
Health experts attribute this kind of outbreak to low vaccination rates.
It has been decades since a state surpassed 1,000 cases; you have to go back to a multi-year outbreak in New York City in the early 1990s that infected more than 4,500 people.
The country eliminated domestic transmission of measles in 2000 by maintaining high vaccination rates, but those rates have fallen in recent years, dipping below the 95% coverage needed to prevent outbreaks.
In November, international health authorities will meet to determine whether the United States and Mexico have lost their measles-free status.
Measles is highly contagious. It spreads when the infected person breathes, coughs, or sneezes, and through contaminated surfaces. The virus can also linger in the air for up to two hours. Up to 9 out of 10 susceptible people will contract the virus if exposed, according to the CDC.
Measles infections in the United States have surged in recent years as fewer children receive routine vaccines due to parental exemptions, barriers to healthcare access, and widespread misinformation.
Pennsylvania is not the only state facing rising problems. Neighboring Ohio has reported more than 200 cases this year. Like Pennsylvania, some of Ohio’s hardest-hit counties include sizable Amish populations, which tend to have lower vaccination rates.
Meanwhile, CDC officials have begun quietly acknowledging measles-related deaths in Pennsylvania.
State officials announced in August that two unvaccinated residents died after contracting measles.
The announcement was quickly questioned, as a clash erupted between Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro, a vaccine advocate, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Trump-era appointee known for generating alarm about vaccines.
Since then, Pennsylvania has reported three additional deaths.
But for weeks, the CDC — which is under Kennedy’s oversight — did not tally any deaths on its measles data panel and, instead, said they were seeking more information. That changed two weeks ago, when a death was finally counted, and last week it changed again, when a second death was added to the agency’s tally.
