Half of US states have reported measles cases this year

CNN Half of states in the US are now reporting measles cases with the national total surpassing cases so far this year according to a CNN tally Majority of of the cases are concentrated in a multistate outbreak involving Texas New Mexico Oklahoma and possibly Kansas that reached cases Friday according to state fitness department updates Texas has released outbreak-associated cases New Mexico revealed cases and Oklahoma announced cases nine validated and three probable as of Friday New Mexico and Oklahoma s numbers have stayed the same since Tuesday Cases in Kansas which the state wellbeing department says may be linked to the larger outbreak have reached as of Wednesday Experts say these numbers are all a severe undercount because numerous cases are going unreported The multistate outbreak has put people in the hospital across Texas New Mexico and Kansas five more since Tuesday s update Nationally the US Centers for Syndrome Control and Prevention reports that at least people have been hospitalized accounting for of certified cases CDC content shows that only of cases this year have been revealed in people who have gotten one or two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella MMR vaccine Local medical administrators are scrambling to increase vaccinations especially in heavily undervaccinated communities Clinics in Lubbock Texas near the epicenter of the outbreak just expanded their hours These Lubbock clinics have administered more doses of the measles-mumps-rubella MMR vaccine than typically would have been given by this time of year Katherine Wells director of Lubbock Society Medical disclosed this week Two doses of the MMR vaccine are effective against the measles virus Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in Experts warn that growing incident numbers could threaten the country s elimination status if spread of the outbreak continues That would happen after months of ongoing circulation of the same sequence Dr David Sugerman a senior scientist at the CDC announced Tuesday at a meeting of the agency s vaccine advisers That date would be around January he reported Two children in Texas have died in the current multistate outbreak and a third death in New Mexico is under analysis They were all unvaccinated The World Physical condition Organization noted that cases in Mexico have also been linked to cases in Texas Three cases in Colorado are being investigated for connection to the outbreak after two of the people traveled to Mexico Another incident was identified after a Pennsylvania resident traveled to Texas though it is unclear what part of the state the person visited In a news release last week the Arkansas strength department mentioned that the second event of measles identified in the state this year was exposed during out of state movement but no further details were provided Numerous cases in other states have been linked to international expedition