California has already reported more measles cases this year than in all of 2024, a worrisome development that comes as the nation is suffering its largest outbreak of the super-infectious disease in decades. <\/p>\n
The extent of the national outbreak has rocketed measles from a back-of-mind issue \u2014 one rarely, if ever, encountered by a whole generation of Americans \u2014 to a pressing public health concern. <\/p>\n
\u201cMeasles is completely preventable,\u201d Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, regional chief of infectious diseases at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, told The Times.<\/p>\n
The uptick in confirmed measles cases in California, while still somewhat concerning for local public health officials, pales compared with the significant outbreak that began in Texas earlier this year and has since spread to surrounding states. <\/p>\n
Texas has reported at least 750 measles cases; New Mexico, 81; Kansas, 80; North Dakota, 28; and Montana, 23, according to the respective states\u2019 health departments. Michigan has reported 15 cases; Ohio and Illinois, 10, and Arkansas and Indiana, eight.<\/p>\n
The virus is spreading almost universally among people who either haven\u2019t been vaccinated, or whose vaccination status is not known, authorities note. But the MMR shots, so named because they also afford protection against mumps and rubella, has long been in the crosshairs<\/a> of anti-vaccine activists and skeptics \u2014 some of whom are now in charge<\/a> of shaping U.S. policy regarding childhood immunizations. <\/p>\n There have been 17 cases of measles reported so far this year among California residents, up from the 15 reported all of last year, according to the state Department of Public Health. Doctors have been increasingly on alert for measles, which for decades has been so rare that many physicians haven\u2019t encountered a single case. <\/p>\n Because of that recent rarity, many may be unfamiliar with how readily measles can spread \u2014 or the serious symptoms it can cause. <\/p>\n \u201cThis is not just a mild childhood disease,\u201d Dr. Erica Pan, director of the California Department of Public Health and state public health officer, said in a recent briefing<\/a> to doctors. <\/p>\n Measles has a death rate of 1 for every 500 to 1,000 cases, Pan said. Nationwide, more than 145 people have been hospitalized with measles so far this year, federal data show<\/a>, and many of those hospitalized have needed intensive care. <\/p>\n \u201cThis can cause very severe disease \u2014 often causes a viral pneumonia that is severe enough to need intensive care,\u201d Pan said. <\/p>\n