Measles continues to spread in the U.S., with 154 cases this year alone, federal health officials said Monday.
And 133 cases are linked to the Disneyland outbreak, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its weekly update.
“This year since January we’ve had a record number of cases for this time this year,” the CDC’s Dr. Anne Schuchat told reporters in a briefing.
Seventeen U.S. states have cases of the virus, which puts about a quarter of patients into the hospital and kills between one in 1,000 and one in 2,000 patients.
Schuchat says the virus was almost certainly imported from another country by a traveler, but it spreads when there are pockets of unvaccinated people. People need two doses of vaccine to be best protected.
IN-DEPTH:
- Measles Outbreak Fuels Vaccine Worries
- Measles Outbreak Came From Overseas
- Tough Mississippi Laws Protect Against Measles