South Carolina’s measles cases are propelling the US’s outbreak into a second year, which threatens to end the nation’s claim to have eliminated the disease.
South Carolina’s measles cases are propelling the US’s outbreak into a second year, which threatens to end the nation’s claim to have eliminated the disease.
South Carolina reported 88 new confirmed cases on Tuesday, bringing the total to 646 since the outbreak started in October.
The latest numbers come on the one-year anniversary of the start of a Texas measles outbreak that infected more than 750 people, killed two unvaccinated children and helped drive US cases to a 34-year high.
On Jan. 16, the Pan American Health Organization’s subcommittee on evaluating measles elimination status scheduled an emergency meeting in April to review the elimination status of Mexico and the US.
Countries are deemed measles-free when they haven’t had an outbreak circulate for more than a year. The US achieved its elimination status in 2000 following a widespread vaccination effort. While it’s unclear whether the 2025 Texas strain is still circulating, the US could still lose its status if PAHO determines its current public health campaigns are not sufficient enough to keep the virus under control.
The designation is merely a label, but its loss would confirm that the virus has regained a dangerous foothold.
Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 2,242 confirmed measles cases across 44 states. The Texas outbreak spread to three other states and was declared over in August. Months later, outbreaks in South Carolina and another on the border of Utah and Arizona broke out.
This year, the US has reported 171 cases in nine states through Jan. 13, mainly driven by South Carolina’s numbers. On Jan. 17, Clemson University reported its first measles case on the Columbia, South Carolina, campus. Anderson University has also reported a case.
In total, 538 people in South Carolina are in quarantine after being exposed to the virus across multiple elementary, middle and high schools and grocery stores.
“We are nowhere close to where we would need to be to say this outbreak is over,” said infectious disease expert and former CDC official Demetre Daskalakis on a call with reporters Tuesday.
Prior to when a vaccine became available in 1963, nearly every child contracted measles before turning 15, and the virus killed 400 to 500 Americans annually. But vaccination rates across the US have been falling in recent years.
“It’s not just that we’ve largely eliminated measles,” said Paul Offit, pediatrician and director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “We eliminated the memory of measles, so people just aren’t scared of it.”
Measles is highly contagious and can lead to encephalitis and pneumonia. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is 97% effective after two doses.
During the Texas outbreak, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promoted unproven measles remedies like vitamin A and cod liver oil. Local hospitals started seeing more kids with vitamin A toxicity after his comments.
Misinformation is one of the biggest concerns for local health departments on the front lines of the outbreak, said Chrissie Juliano, executive director of the Big Cities Health Coalition. “The most important thing right now is for people to get vaccinated,” she said.
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Johnathon Grisby
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