US on verge of losing its measles elimination status
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A growing measles outbreak in South Carolina has infected more than 600 people since October, with hundreds more being potentially exposed.
Measles hot spots were found in areas like West Texas and southern New Mexico.
Tuesday marks one year since a measles outbreak started in West Texas, and there have been new cases in the United States each week since. Texas reported more than 760 cases and the deaths of two children before declaring the outbreak over in August.
Researchers have mapped uptake of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine across the United States, identifying large swaths of low uptake, indicating an increased risk of outbreaks at a time of surging measles cases, per a report published yesterday in Nature Health.
Health officials in South Carolina have confirmed 124 new cases of measles since Friday. Hundreds of children have been quarantined because of school exposures, some more than once.