Half of US states have reported measles cases this year

CNN Half of states in the US are now reporting measles cases with the national total surpassing cases so far this year according to a CNN tally Majority of the cases are concentrated in a multistate outbreak involving Texas New Mexico Oklahoma and possibly Kansas that reached cases Friday according to state vitality department updates Texas has announced outbreak-associated cases New Mexico disclosed cases and Oklahoma published cases nine substantiated and three probable as of Friday New Mexico and Oklahoma s numbers have stayed the same since Tuesday Cases in Kansas which the state medical department says may be linked to the larger outbreak have reached as of Wednesday Experts say these numbers are all a severe undercount because several cases are going unreported The multistate outbreak has put people in the hospital across Texas New Mexico and Kansas five more since Tuesday s update Nationally the US Centers for Sickness Control and Prevention reports that at least people have been hospitalized accounting for of ratified cases CDC content shows that only of cases this year have been shared in people who have gotten one or two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella MMR vaccine Local strength authorities are scrambling to increase vaccinations especially in heavily undervaccinated communities Clinics in Lubbock Texas near the epicenter of the outbreak just expanded their hours These Lubbock clinics have administered more doses of the measles-mumps-rubella MMR vaccine than typically would have been given by this time of year Katherine Wells director of Lubbock Masses Wellbeing reported this week Two doses of the MMR vaccine are effective against the measles virus Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in Experts warn that growing scenario numbers could threaten the country s elimination status if spread of the outbreak continues That would happen after months of ongoing circulation of the same sequence Dr David Sugerman a senior scientist at the CDC commented Tuesday at a meeting of the agency s vaccine advisers That date would be around January he noted Two children in Texas have died in the current multistate outbreak and a third death in New Mexico is under examination They were all unvaccinated The World Medical Organization stated that cases in Mexico have also been linked to cases in Texas Three cases in Colorado are being investigated for connection to the outbreak after two of the people traveled to Mexico Another matter was identified after a Pennsylvania resident traveled to Texas though it is unclear what part of the state the person visited In a news release last week the Arkansas strength department noted that the second event of measles identified in the state this year was exposed during out of state expedition but no further details were provided Numerous cases in other states have been linked to international trip