Pennsylvania has surpassed 1,000 measles cases this year, state health officials calculate, making it the largest state outbreak in more than three decades. The benchmark comes as neighboring New York declared a state of emergency about measles rates there.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania\u2019s health department said Monday 1,004 cases of measles had been confirmed. Five Pennsylvania residents \u2060have died \u2060after \u200bcontracting the disease, with 198 hospitalizations.<\/p>\n
Lancaster county, with sizeable Amish and Mennonite populations, remains the hardest hit, with 391 cases, according to official figures.<\/a> Cases numbers have risen over the past three months, with the highest number of infections in the 24-49 age range.<\/p>\n The numbers, however, are not included in a CDC count due to an ongoing dispute between Pennsylvania\u2019s governor, Josh Shapiro, and the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr<\/a> over how to classify measles-related mortality.<\/p>\n Shapiro has called Kennedy \u201cincompetent\u201d, and Kennedy has publicly questioned whether the state\u2019s recorded fatalities were directly caused by measles. The CDC \u2013 which Kennedy oversees \u2013 currently lists two measles deaths in the US this year.<\/a><\/p>\n Shapiro has expanded access to the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine in affected communities.<\/p>\n \u201cI want every Pennsylvanian to know this: measles does not care about your county, your faith, or your social circle,\u201d he said in August. \u201cI urge everyone to take this seriously and to discuss any concerns with their trusted health care provider.\u201d<\/p>\n In New York state, governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency<\/a> on Monday as well, citing 108 cases in the state as of 3 October.<\/p>\n Ohio, which also shares a border with Pennsylvania, has also reported advancing numbers of cases, with more than 200 this year. Like in Pennsylvania, Ohio has a significant Amish population.<\/p>\n The US is enduring its worst year for measles since 1991. As of 1 October, the CDC reported 3,887 confirmed cases this year, along with the highest number of measles-associated deaths in decades.<\/p>\n In addition to Pennsylvania, outbreaks have been reported in several states, including Texas and Utah, as well as South Carolina, which had the largest outbreak with 997 cases reported.<\/p>\n Health officials in Pennsylvania have said the state\u2019s current outbreak started in April, west of Philadelphia and attributed the outbreak to low vaccination rates.<\/p>\n According to the Associated Press, the most recent outbreak to surpass 1,000 cases occurred in New York City in the early 1990s<\/a>. That outbreak infected more than 4,500 people. During the 1989 and 1991 resurgences, 55,000 infections and 123 deaths \u2060were recorded, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n The domestic US spread of measles was eliminated in 2000 by high vaccination rates, but those rates have fallen in recent years to below the 95% coverage<\/a> needed to prevent outbreaks.<\/p>\n