Measles Cases Rise, Raising Public Health Alarm
A surge in measles cases across the United States, including a recent outbreak in South Carolina, is prompting renewed concern from public health officials.As of last week, the CDC has confirmed 1,563 cases of measles nationwide this year. The rise in infections comes amid concerns that diminished surveillance capabilities are hindering accurate tracking of the highly contagious virus.
Measles is a highly contagious respiratory disease that can lead to severe complications, including pneumonia, encephalitis, and even death. While a safe and effective vaccine has been available for decades, outbreaks continue to occur, largely among unvaccinated individuals. A notable outbreak earlier this year in Texas sickened over 700 people and resulted in the deaths of two unvaccinated children in Texas and an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico.
Texas health officials declared the Texas outbreak over in August, but cautioned that the threat remained. Dr. Paul Offit, a leading vaccine expert, predicted a resurgence of cases, and now expresses concern that the official national case numbers are an undercount. He attributes this potential underreporting to changes in immunization policy and diminished resources for disease tracking under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a known vaccine skeptic.
“Not only do I think this is getting worse, I think we’re not going to know about it as the surveillance capacity has been so diminished by our secretary of Health and Human Services,” Offit stated.
