A measles outbreak in the northeastern US has spread to a fourth state, which health officials are trying to curb by offering free vaccines.
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where cases have been rising since December, pop-up clinics have been launched to offer unvaccinated individuals the shot.
Last weekend, Virginia and New Jersey warned residents about the virus — with New Jersey confirming a case in a child attending day care.
This brings the total number of infections to nine, eight of which have been confirmed to occur in unvaccinated people.
At least thirty people are under surveillance.
Doctors say measles – which is several times more contagious than Covid – is spreading again in the US due to declining vaccination rates.
Official data published last year showed that in some states a shocking 12 percent of preschoolers had not received the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination, which protects against the deadly disease.
The map above shows states with measles cases (red) or measles exposure warnings (yellow) and no cases yet detected. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (top right), where the first case of the outbreak was discovered
By 2022, national uptake of the MMR shot had reached a record low, from 95 percent to 93 percent in two years.
In some states, this figure is as low as 78 percent.
Experts are now urging all Americans to make sure they get vaccinated against the condition, which can lead to encephalitis – fatal swelling of the brain.
In Philadelphia, where seven of the nine cases have been recorded, doctors from the Black Doctors Consortium are distributing free measles vaccines.
The city’s health officials are also offering free vaccines at three of their health centers Monday through Thursday and on weekends.
This was stated by the director of the organization, Dr. Ala Stanford Fox News Philadelphia: ‘Measles is the most contagious viral disease – several times more contagious than Covid.
‘One person can infect up to twenty people. And it stays in the air for two hours, so if you’ve been to a particular location where there’s been a confirmed case (you may be at risk).
“And all it takes to spread measles is for someone to breathe. Don’t cough, don’t sneeze, just breathe.’
She added: ‘The most important thing you can do to protect yourself from measles is to get vaccinated.
‘We have a large influx of people here from other countries who do not have access to the care that we have had.
“All it takes is one person coming here (with measles) and meeting someone who hasn’t been vaccinated, and now you have the spread.”
The Consortium offers the shots to Dr. Alas Stanford Center for Health Equity Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.
Philadelphia health chiefs are offering the shots between 10 a.m. and noon and 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. at their health centers. During the weekend they are available from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm.
The measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is given as two injections during childhood, with the first between 12 and 15 months of age and the second between the ages of four and six years. But it is also available for adults, who will receive two doses of the vaccine at least 28 days apart.
The vaccine is more than 97 percent effective against measles infections.
Measles is one of the most contagious diseases ever recorded – with only a small amount of viruses able to infect the body.
It is spread through respiratory droplets or by touching contaminated surfaces, and symptoms include a characteristic rash that breaks out on the face and then spreads throughout the body within days.
The disease is especially dangerous for children under five years old, pregnant women and the elderly.
About three in a thousand infected children die from the disease; usually due to measles-related pneumonia or encephalitis.
CDC data for the 2021-2022 school year shows a 10-year low in MMR vaccination rates among preschoolers. Vaccination rates vary by state – with Alaska, Wisconsin, DC and Ohio revealed as having the lowest percentage of MMR vaccinated children
The map above shows vaccine exemption rates by state for the 2022-2023 school year, highlighting the top five states with the highest exemption rates
At an uptake level of 95 percent of preschoolers, the MMR vaccine can prevent the spread of measles in the community.
But this has now fallen below that threshold; 93 percent.
In Philadelphia, rates dropped from 97.4 percent the year before the pandemic to 92.8 percent of kindergarteners in 2023.
Most measles cases in the US are linked to international travel to a country where the disease has not yet been eradicated.
The last major outbreak occurred in 2022, when more than 80 cases were recorded in Ohio — mostly among children who had not been vaccinated.
The current outbreak in the Northeast began in December when a measles-infected child who had not been vaccinated was admitted to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) after returning from abroad.
It took doctors several days to diagnose the infection, but only suspected measles after a characteristic rash appeared.
But by then the virus had already spread to two children in a nearby bed; a child who was too young to be vaccinated and a child whose parents were not vaccinated.
Despite quarantine orders, at least one infected patient then went to a Philadelphia daycare, spreading the disease to other children.
An alert was issued in Delaware in early January after it emerged that one of the Philadelphia-based infected patients had traveled to the state for medical care.
State officials say they are now monitoring 20 to 30 people for infections.
For the 2022-2023 school year, three percent of kindergarten children had a vaccination exemption from one or more mandatory vaccines. This is an increase from 2.6 percent during the 2021-2022 school year and the highest the U.S. has ever recorded
Last week, New Jersey announced it had confirmed a case of measles in a person who attended child care in Camden County – which borders Philadelphia.
State health chiefs currently say the origin of the infection is unknown.
Virginia health chiefs simultaneously warned of a possible measles exposure after a person infected with the virus traveled through the state.
They said the person was at Dulles International Airport on January 3 and then at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on January 4.
State health chiefs said the case was not related to the outbreak reported in Philadelphia.