US measles outbreak in 2024 already surpasses last year’s total

2024 is shaping up to be a critical year for the measles virus.

The number of measles — or rubeola — diagnoses in the United States so far this year has nearly surpassed the case count for all of 2023, data now shows.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 41 measles cases were diagnosed in January and February of 2024, compared to 58 cases total in 2023.

At this point last year, only three cases of measles had been reported.

Sixteen states have confirmed cases as of Feb. 29: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington.

Florida has the largest outbreak at the moment with 10 reported cases — six of them linked to one elementary school in Broward County, according to Politico.

The outbreaks are being attributed to a decrease in measles vaccination rates for the third year in a row.

In January, the CDC said that the reported spike in infections reflected a wider measles outbreak that is years in the making, as some countries postponed or completely skipped administering the vaccine during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Most of these cases were among children and adolescents who had not received a measles-containing vaccine (MMR or MMRV), even if age eligible,” the emergency notice said.

According to the CDC, over 61 million doses of the MMR or MMRV vaccine were postponed or missed between 2020 and 2022 because of COVID-related delays in “supplementary immunization activities.”

Because of the widespread adoption of the measles vaccine, measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines measles elimination as “the absence of endemic measles virus transmission in a defined geographical area (e.g., region or country) for at least 12 months in the presence of a surveillance system that has been verified to be performing well.”

However, if a measles outbreak continues to go on for a year or more, the US could lose its elimination status.

“The increase in measles outbreaks and deaths is staggering, but unfortunately, not unexpected given the declining vaccination rates we’ve seen in the past few years,” John Vertefeuille, director of CDC’s Global Immunization Division, said in a November 2023 statement.

“Measles cases anywhere pose a risk to all countries and communities where people are under-vaccinated. Urgent, targeted efforts are critical to prevent measles disease and deaths.”