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Measles Cases Top 1,000 in the First 5 Months of 2019

By 

René F. Najera, DrPH

June 8, 2019

Look at this hexagonal map: [caption id="attachment_1452" align="alignnone" width="2406"]
Every hexagon is one case of measles[/caption] The number of measles cases for 2019. This is the first time in 37 years that the reported cases of measles have been over 1,000. That's a lifetime ago! And, as you see in the hexagonal map above, most of the cases are in New York, Washington and California. New York and California are fairly populous states, so we'd need to have more information on the age distributions between those two, and the age distribution of the cases, in order to make a better comparison. Still, are reporting their "first in X many years" cases of measles, and that X stands for 18+ years. In essence, it's been a while since measles has been this emergent in the United States. To make things more interesting, there is talk among public health authorities that the United States may lose its designation as having eliminated measles (certified in 2000) if measles continues to be transmitted between people in the United States come September 1, 2019. We may very well reach that date with continued transmission, especially since there are and other venues almost every week recently.

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