In New Jersey, a measles warning was issued after three cases of the highly contagious virus were confirmed in the state's most populous counties.
Unvaccinated residents of Bergen County signed measles after returning from overseas trips. The person spread it to the other two, New Jersey Department of Health. All three are not vaccinated.
The state health department issued an alert Thursday. Texas officials have marked the first death from the US virus since 2015 when a child who has not been vaccinated in Lone Star State died of measles infection.
NJDOH advises visitors to the Englewood Hospital emergency department on February 9th from 11:30am to 5:30pm to monitor symptoms. This could appear by March 6th.
The department is also working to track down other people who may have been exposed, but emphasized that patients, staff or visitors who were in the hospital during those times should contact their healthcare provider immediately.
Those who suspect they have been exposed should call their doctor first before heading to the facility to avoid risking the spread of more people.
New Jersey alerts come after a crash through Texas and contracted 146, causing 20 hospitalizations and one child to die. Texas Department of Health.
Another measles case was also confirmed in a non-vaccinated child in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania on Sunday, according to the Montgomery County Department of Health.
The spread of measles has pushed many people to emphasize the importance of life-saving vaccines like MMR. Many are calling for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – the newly confirmed U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary has appeared in people who are notorious about the vaccine.
Kennedy has largely downplayed the Texas outbreak – primarily limited to close religious communities with fewer vaccinations, but says that measles cases are not “unusual.”
Measles was mostly eradicated from the United States in 2000 after decades of vaccination campaigns. According to the CDC, new cases will only appear in the country if they signed overseas.
Kindergarten children enrolling in public schools across the country must be vaccinated for measles, but since the Covid-19 pandemic, populations of kindergarteners in most states have fallen below the 95% vaccination threshold, which is considered essential to stop the outbreak of measles.
The majority of the northeastern countries have been vaccinated, but there is a slight downward trend.
Last year, more than 93% of New Jersey kindergarteners received the MMR vaccine, but the percentage in 2022, which is still down 1%, is now over 94%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Over 97% were vaccinated in New York and Connecticut in both years.
Meanwhile, the federal MMR vaccination rate fell by about 2.5% between 2020 and 2024, according to the CDC.
Measles is a highly contagious aerial disease. According to NJDOH, bacteria can stay in the air for up to two hours by anyone who coughs or sneezes.
Symptoms include high fever, cough, runny nose, watery red eyes, and rashes that appear between 3 and 5 days after symptoms begin.
Most at risk are those who have not been fully vaccinated or who have not had measles before. The MMR vaccine is a two-dose dose and usually provides lifelong protection against illness.
