The CDC has confirmed 31 new measles cases in a “nationwide outbreak that has now reached 1,983 infections.” CIDRAP has the news.
The total for all of last year in the U.S. was 2,288 confirmed cases. Of this year’s cases, “21% involve children younger than 5 years, and 72% involve kids and young adults up to 19 years. Among all 2026 patients, 92% have been unvaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status. Six percent of patients this year have been hospitalized, compared with 11% last year.” No measles deaths have been reported yet this year.
New details have also been released surrounding an outbreak in Utah that has recorded 20 new cases over the past three weeks. Just over 90% of the cases in the outbreak, which has slowed recently, were “in people who were unvaccinated or at unknown status.” Two-thirds of the patients have been adults above the age of 18, but 23 children under 1 year of age have also been affected. 8% of those patients were “hospitalized for more than 24 hours,” and many more were seen in emergency departments.
Hospitalized patients in Utah ran the gamut from developing “manifestations of brain inflammation or encephalitis, with confusion or brain fog,” to pneumonia. Hospitalized patients in west Texas were admitted for a median of two days and experienced many complications, like pneumonia, dehydration, hepatitis, and febrile seizures.
