Measles confirmed in L.A. County resident who recently returned from Texas

Measles has been confirmed successful a Los Angeles County nonmigratory who precocious returned from Texas, a authorities that is successful the midst of an outbreak of the highly infectious disease, wellness officials said Friday.

The outbreak successful Texas is 1 of the worst seen successful the U.S. successful years, and it has claimed the lives of 2 school-aged children who were unvaccinated and had nary underlying aesculapian conditions, according to a study published Thursday successful the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

This is the 3rd measles lawsuit reported by the L.A. County Department of Public Health truthful acold this year. In March, a region nonmigratory who had precocious traveled done Los Angeles International Airport connected a China Airlines formation from Taipei, Taiwan, tested positive. And successful February, a lawsuit was reported successful a non-L.A. County nonmigratory who arrived connected a Korean Air formation from Seoul.

“The traveler was not infectious during the clip of travel,” the region Department of Public Health said successful a connection Friday regarding the astir caller case.

Officials are moving to place radical who whitethorn person been exposed portion the infected idiosyncratic was contagious with the virus.

Symptoms of measles see a precocious fever — supra 101 degrees — cough, runny nose, reddish and watery eyes and a rash, which usually starts connected the look and spreads to the remainder of the body.

Measles spreads easy done the aerial and tin stay airborne and connected surfaces for hours, adjacent aft an infectious idiosyncratic has near the room.

People tin dispersed measles to others from 4 days earlier the disease’s telltale rash appears done 4 days afterward, according to the CDC. People who person not been immunized against measles, either done vaccination oregon anterior infection, are astatine hazard of getting sick betwixt 7 and 21 days aft exposure.

Two doses of the measles vaccine are 97% effectual against infection, wellness officials say.

CDC officials person identified 10 measles outbreaks nationwide. The largest began successful a close-knit assemblage with debased vaccination rates successful Texas’ Gaines County, adjacent to New Mexico.

That outbreak has since dispersed to New Mexico and Oklahoma, and is suspected to beryllium linked to much cases successful Kansas, the CDC study said. A increasing outbreak successful the Mexican authorities of Chihuahua was besides reported aft a nonmigratory fell sick aft visiting Gaines County.

So acold this year, 884 measles cases person been reported nationwide, “the second-highest yearly lawsuit number successful 25 years,” according to the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

During each of 2024, 285 measles cases were reported nationally.

Of the cases reported truthful acold this year, the median diligent property was 8. About one-third of those infected were younger than 5, the study said. Among each measles patients, 96% were not vaccinated oregon had an chartless vaccination status.

Nationally, 85 measles patients this twelvemonth person had to beryllium hospitalized. Except for one, each of them were either unvaccinated oregon had an chartless vaccination status. Texas officials person said the origin of the state’s latest measles decease was measles pulmonary failure.

Most of the measles cases reported truthful acold nationally this twelvemonth are tied to close-knit communities with debased vaccination coverage, the CDC said.

Before Friday’s announcement, 9 measles cases had been reported successful California this year, with cases besides reported successful Orange, Riverside, Fresno, San Mateo, Placer and Tuolumne counties, according to the California Department of Public Health.

In 2024, California confirmed 15 cases of measles. In 2023, the full was lone four.

California’s worst measles outbreak successful caller representation occurred betwixt December 2014 and April 2015. Centered astatine Disneyland, the outbreak resulted successful astir 131 Californians getting infected. People from six different states, Mexico and Canada were besides sickened, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Following that outbreak, California lawmakers strengthened puerility vaccination requirements for schoolchildren. For the 2023-24 world year, 96.2% of California’s kindergartners were vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella.

That’s somewhat down from the 96.5% seen the twelvemonth prior. But it remains supra the levels recorded earlier the Disneyland measles outbreak, which were little than 94%.

Public wellness experts accidental they purpose for a 95% measles vaccination complaint to defender against outbreaks.

Amid the ongoing outbreaks, pediatricians person stepped up efforts to rebut misinformation astir some the illness and the vaccine.

“The measles vaccine is harmless and effective,” the American Academy of Pediatrics said successful a caller statement, rebutting what they called “wellness influencers and anti-vaccine advocates” who they accidental “falsely assert” that getting vaccinated “is arsenic unsafe arsenic contracting measles itself.”

“Extensive probe demonstrates that the MMR vaccine is harmless and importantly reduces the hazard of contracting measles, a illness that tin pb to terrible complications and death,” the pediatrics radical said.