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There were no new measles cases in the United States last week, CDC says

Posted at 6:25 PM, Sep 16, 2019
and last updated 2019-09-16 18:25:44-04

For the first time since early January, no new measles cases were reported in the United States last week, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health officials continue to monitor ongoing outbreaks in two New York counties.

The number of measles cases in the United remained at 1,241 for the year as of last Thursday.

The majority of cases were among people who were not vaccinated against measles, and more than 75% of cases were linked to outbreaks in New York and New York City. New York City health officials announced recently that the measles outbreak in Brooklyn was over. Outbreaks in Rockland County, New York, and Wyoming County, New York, are ongoing.

Measles cases have been confirmed in 31 states. States that have reported cases to CDC are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington.

As of September 12, 130 people who had measles this year were hospitalized and 65 had complications including pneumonia and encephalitis, the CDC said.

The number of cases this year marks the greatest number reported in the United States since 1992 and since measles was declared eliminated in 2000, meaning it was no longer continuously transmitted in the country.

The CDC updates the number of cases nationally every Monday. It includes the number of cases reported by state health departments as of the end of the day the previous Thursday.