Measles Outbreak In 21 States Plus District Of Columbia: CDC

WASHINGTON, DC — The District of Columbia and Maryland are among 21 states, plus DC, affected by a nationwide measles outbreak, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nationwide, at least 107 cases have been identified, according to the CDC. All cases were linked to international travel. The Department of Health is currently not investigating any new cases.

From Jan. 1 through July 14, officials said that 107 people from 21 states and the District of Columbia were infected. Virginia has not reported any measles cases to date, the health agency said. The states with patients in the outbreak are: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.

Washington, D.C., health officials said the one case in the city involved someone visiting from another country and the patient was not a District resident, WTOP reports. The oneMaryland measles case involved someone from the D.C. area, according to a spokeswoman from the Maryland Department of Health.

In 2017, the CDC reported there were 118 people from 15 states and the District of Columbia to have measles, so the number of 2018 cases should easily outpace last year's total.

In 2016, 86 people from 19 states were reported to have measles.

In 2014, the United States experienced a record number of measles cases, with 667 cases from 27 states reported to CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

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The majority of people who got measles were unvaccinated, according to the CDC. The symptoms of measles generally appear about seven to 14 days after a person is infected.

Measles typically begins with these symptoms:

• High fever
• Cough
• Runny nose
• Red, watery eyes (conjunctivitis)

Two or three days after symptoms begin, tiny white spots (Koplik spots) may appear inside the mouth.

Three to five days after symptoms begin, a rash breaks out. It usually begins as flat red spots that appear on the face at the hairline and spread downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs, and feet. Small raised bumps may also appear on top of the flat red spots, according to the CDC.

The spots may become joined together as they spread from the head to the rest of the body. When the rash appears, a person's fever may spike to more than 104 degrees.

— By Tom Davis, Patch National Staff

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