South Carolina measles outbreak surges past 300 cases

The number of measles cases reported in South Carolina is skyrocketing and spreading to other states.

On Friday, the South Carolina Department of Public Health said it had confirmed 99 new cases of the illness since Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases in the state to 310.

Another 200 people exposed to the virus – the most contagious known on the planet – are in quarantine. The outbreak is concentrated in the northwest part of the state, in Spartanburg County.

“Some cases are exposures related to travel or close contact with known cases,” the department said in a news release. “Other cases have no identified source, suggesting that measles is circulating in the community and could spread further. »

This is already the case.

On Tuesday, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced that three children, siblings living in Buncombe County, were diagnosed with measles after visiting Spartanburg.

On Thursday, the Snohomish County Health Department in Washington state said three people who were visiting the area from South Carolina over the holidays have since been diagnosed with measles. One of them is an adult who has received at least one measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. The other two are unvaccinated children, according to the department.

“The family visited several locations” near Seattle while she was contagious, the department said, including a McDonald’s, a Chick-fil-A, a church and a trampoline park.

Elsewhere, an ongoing outbreak centered along the Arizona-Utah border has reached 390 cases — 214 in Arizona and 176 in Utah. There is no indication that the outbreak is linked to South Carolina.

There have been several recent exposures throughout Utah, according to the state health department. The events at a St. George high school were exposed over four days in late December and early January. Another high school near Salt Lake City reported exposure during a drill competition Jan. 2-3.

In northeast Ohio, three children ages 10, 7 and 2 were diagnosed with measles, according to NBC affiliate WKYC in Cleveland. A fourth child is showing symptoms, the station reported.

“The children were not all vaccinated at the time they were exposed and traveled to an area of ​​the United States where there was an ongoing measles outbreak,” the Ohio Department of Health wrote on its website. Authorities did not reveal the area where the family had gone.

Last year, the United States recorded 2,144 cases of measles – the highest number since 1991. The majority, 93%, were unvaccinated or had unknown vaccination status.