A Measles Outbreak Draws Federal Help
Pennsylvania's health department reported 1,222 measles cases on October 14, up 86 from a week earlier, with 225 people hospitalized and at least five deaths. The numbers make this the state's worst measles outbreak in 35 years, according to The Associated Press, and experts believe the true total is higher. On Tuesday, the federal government confirmed it will send additional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention support to help investigate and respond to the spread.
Where It Is, and Who It Reaches
Cases have now been confirmed in more than 40 of Pennsylvania's counties, with Lancaster County in the southeast at the center, accounting for 401 cases as of early October. About a third of cases are among people under 18, and state data show that fewer than 1% occurred among fully vaccinated people. The deaths reported so far include two infants too young to receive the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, an unvaccinated 18-year-old, an unvaccinated 40-year-old, and an unvaccinated Lancaster County resident. State officials note that some recent case counts include people who got sick weeks ago and are no longer contagious but were only just confirmed, so a rise in the total does not always mean a new surge.
The federal response has come with a disagreement over the count. The state asked for CDC outbreak support, formally requesting help from the agency's Epi-Aid epidemiologists, and a Health and Human Services spokesperson confirmed Tuesday that Pennsylvania's request was received and that the CDC will deploy additional support. The CDC, however, has recognized only two measles deaths nationally this year, without naming the states, and officials in Harrisburg and Washington have publicly disagreed over how the state's deaths are classified. Nationwide, the CDC counted 4,080 measles cases through October 8. Health officials continue to point to the MMR vaccine, which is about 97% effective at preventing measles after two doses, as the best protection.
Pennsylvania has been here before. The 1990–91 Philadelphia measles outbreak sickened more than 1,400 people and killed nine children, in large part in communities where vaccination rates were low, and it prompted a major push to raise childhood immunization. Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, but falling vaccination rates in some communities have let the virus back in. The arrival of federal investigators does not signal a new phase so much as another layer of effort in a long, hard slog, and the next few weeks of data will show whether the state is bending the curve.