On February 7th, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed 101 cases of measles from 10 states so far in 2019. In 2018, 372 cases of measles were reported in the United States.

Measles was officially declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, meaning the infection was no longer endemic among people. Since then, an average of 147 outbreaks have been recorded each year.

CDC data shows that 2019 has had an unusually large number of measles cases recorded, setting 2019 up to be the worst year for measles cases since 1992.

Measles is a contagious viral infection that is preventable by vaccine. Symptoms usually are a high fever, runny nose, dry cough, inflamed eyes, and skin rashes. These symptoms do not show for the first 10 to 14 days after a person is affected by the virus.

This viral infection can be serious, even fatal, among small children and is highly contagious among unvaccinated people. It is almost always preventable by vaccine.

In January the state of Washington declared a public health emergency after identifying an outbreak in Clark County. As of Thursday, February 7th, more than 50 people have now been infected with measles across southwest Washington and northwest Oregon. Most cases identified are affecting children younger than age 10.

According to the Seattle Times, as of March 6th, 800 children have missed school because of the outbreak.

Clark County has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the state. According to the Washington Department of Health, about one in four kindergarten students in the county did not get all their vaccinations during the 2017-2018 school year.

Washington and Oregon are two of 17 states that allow children to go to school unvaccinated on the basis of personal beliefs. A similar outbreak to the one in Washington occurred among the Orthodox Jewish community in New York. The state is one of 47 states that allow exemption based on religion.

The cause behind outbreaks in the U.S. of once eradicated diseases, like measles, is typically the combination of the disease being brought into the country, which then quickly spreads among unvaccinated people. The World Health Organization reported this month that people choosing not to vaccinate became a global health threat in 2019.

In recent years there has been a large decline in vaccinations among infants. The Washington State Health Department reported in 2018 that 530 people had been immunized against measles. But due to the increasing concern of further outbreaks, that number has increased to nearly 3,000 immunizations as of January in the state of Washington.