California health officials announced Thursday that 38 people had been infected with measles so far this year, a tally expected to rise in the coming weeks as outbreaks grow in the state.
The news comes amid a nationwide surge in measles, with 695 cases in 22 states this year as of Wednesday evening, the most reported in the U.S. since 2000.In California, the measles count jumped 15 in a week, said Dr. Karen Smith, director of the state Department of Public Health. Health officials have declared new outbreaks in Sacramento andOverall, California’s high vaccination rates seem to have prevented small outbreaks from mushrooming the way they have elsewhere, experts say.
Fourteen of the 38 people with measles in California caught the illness while visiting other countries, including Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia, Smith said. Four of those infected 22 other people in the state, likely living in areas with lower-than-average vaccination rates. Three-quarters of the measles patients in California were not vaccinated at all or only had one of the two recommended doses of the measles vaccine, said Dr. Gil Chavez, deputy director for the state health department’s infectious diseases center. Some people fell sick despite being vaccinated because the shot is estimated to be 97% effective, he said.
The measles vaccine is still considered highly effective and officials recommend it to anyone who has not been immunized yet. People who contract measles after getting the shot tend to have a less severe form of the illness and are less likely to transmit it to others. The measles vaccine is believed to work for a lifetime.
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