Measles continues to spread in the US, but with some letup : NPR

South Carolina public health officials are seeing an increase in the number of people getting vaccinated against measles.

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Measles outbreak in South Carolina continues to growwith a total of 876 confirmed cases, constituting the largest outbreak the United States has seen in decades. But there are some positive signs in the current outbreak.

The epidemic began in October and, within 16 weeks, it exceeded 2025 Texas outbreak. Today, the rate of new confirmed cases has slowed. South Carolina public health officials reported just 29 new confirmed cases on Tuesday, which is a much lower number than in recent weeks. State epidemiologist Linda Bell told reporters Wednesday that it’s too early to say whether that means the trajectory of this outbreak has finally slowed, but they’re hopeful.

Bell said public health officials’ vaccination outreach efforts appear to be paying off. A few weeks ago, she told reporters that few people were getting vaccinated at the mobile clinics they offer. But on Wednesday, she reported that vaccinations were up 162% in January compared to last year in Spartanburg County, which is the epicenter of the outbreak. And she says statewide, vaccinations are up 72 percent, which will be key to stopping the spread of this virus.

“So far, this is the best month for measles vaccination during this outbreak,” Bell says.

“I hope we can attribute this to a greater recognition of the threat of this disease circulating in our communities and the desire to protect people from complications,” she adds.

Common complications of measles include encephalitisor brain swelling and pneumonia. Bell says public health officials know of at least 19 people, children and adults, who have been hospitalized so far.

Dr. Robin LaCroix is a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Prisma Health in Greenville, South Carolina. She’s helped treat several children hospitalized for measles, and she says they can get very sick. “When I go to see these children, it’s always very disappointing to see how difficult this disease is for them,” she says.

“They’re dehydrated, from the fever and feeling unwell. They’re coughing and coughing and coughing.”

She and her colleagues told reporters Wednesday that they were preparing to see other complications in children that could arise after measles infection. They expect to see more of these complications in the coming months.

Several unvaccinated pregnant women also had to be treated with immunoglobulins after being exposed to measles, Bell said. The disease poses serious risks for pregnant women and their babiesincluding an increased risk of maternal death, premature labor and stillbirth.

Measles cases were also reported at two Immigration and Customs Enforcement centers. One of them was a single case confirmed earlier in January at a detention center in Florence, Arizona. And this past weekend, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed at least two cases of measles among people detained at the ICE Family Detention Center in Dilley, Texas.

DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that both people are now in quarantine. She said federal immigration agents have halted all movement at the centers and are quarantining anyone who may have been exposed.

Always, Dr. Katherine Peeler from Harvard Medical School is involved. She has studied health care in immigration detention centers and is a medical expert with Physicians for Human Rights. She highlights a measles outbreak that occurred in an ICE facility in 2016. Researchers found later that even with relatively high levels of immunity among those held there, measles can spread quickly in a crowded center.

“I’m very concerned that we’re going to see higher rates of measles outbreaks, in the same way that we’ve seen very high rates of COVID, both in adult detention centers and in family detention centers,” she said.

And as vaccination rates decline across the country and the U.S. sees more measles cases, as well as more people detained in ICE facilities, Peeler says the risk of an outbreak increases.