Updated March 05, 2015.

In the United States, rates of measles, a vaccine-preventable infection, are usually fairly low, with just 61 cases in 2010.

Before the routine use of the measles vaccine (1963) and the MMR vaccine (1971), though, measles cases -- and complications from those cases -- were high. There used to be about 500,000 cases of measles and 500 measles deaths each year in the United States.

We still see some cases in the U.S., but measles has not been endemic in the United States since 2000.

Measles Outbreaks 2011

Unfortunately, 2011 was a big year for measles outbreaks in the US, with more cases being reported than any other year since 1996, when there were 508 cases.

Specifically, the CDC has reported that in 2011:

• 222 people got sick with measles
• there were 17 distinct outbreaks
• cases were reported in 31 states
• 86% of cases were either unvaccinated (65%) or had an unknown vaccination status (21%)
• 32% of cases required hospitalization
• the youngest person to get measles was just 3 months old
• 27 were less than 12 months old and too young to be routinely vaccinated with an MMR vaccine
• 51 were between 1 and 4 years and too young to be routinely vaccinated with a second dose of MMR vaccine

Measles outbreaks and exposures in 2011 include:

• An unvaccinated child in the Kansas City metropolitan area.
• A child in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
• Three confirmed cases and several suspected cases in Milwaukee.
• Two hospitalized children in Dakota County, Minnesota, including one who was in critical condition for several weeks, linked to one of the unvaccinated children traveling to Kenya.

• Another case in Pennsylvania, which is linked to a case in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, who exposed other people at a Rite Aid Drug Store.
• A traveler from Canada who was contagious when vacationing in the Old Orchard Beach and Saco areas of Maine.
• A resident of Santa Rosa County, Florida, near Pensacola and Destin, who was unvaccinated and likely got measles while traveling in Eastern Europe. This is the 7th case of measles in Florida this year, the most since 1997, with 6 out of 7 cases in unvaccinated children.
• A case at the New York Chiropractic College in Seneca, New York.
• Five cases of measles in Noble County, Indiana, which was initially linked to international travel, and which spread among unvaccinated children and adults. This outbreak has spread to seven other people in Noble County and at least two people LaGrange County for a total of 14.
• A young child in Washington County, Vermont likely has measles and may have exposed many other kids and adults to measles at an annual city barbecue last week in Berlin. This is the second case in Vermont, although they are not thought to be related.
• An employee at Intermountain Project power plant near Delta, Utah, who likely got measles while on his honeymoon out of the country and could have exposed others at work.
• An employee at Bose Corporation in Westborough, Massachusetts, whose testing required confirmation at the CDC labs.
• A case in Maryland, in which people may have been exposed in Catonsville, the Eastern Shore and downtown Baltimore, including the Catonsville High School Graduation at the UMBC RAC Center.
• Three new cases in New York City, including two adults and an 8-month-old infant who would be too young to be routinely immunized, bringing the total case count in NY to 13.
• A 22-year-old in Humboldt County, California who had recently visited China and who could have exposed people to measles at the China Buffet and Hometown Buffet in Eureka.
• Three more people in Cache County, Utah, following a case in an elementary school student at Greenville Elementary a few weeks ago.
• People exposed to an Italian tourist who visited New York, California, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, and other locations in Utah.
• Thousands of contacts at the New England Aquarium in Boston, who were exposed to an unvaccinated 17-year-old resident of Vermont who volunteered at the aquarium while contagious with measles, bringing the total number of cases in Massachusetts to 18.
• Passengers on a flight from Chicago to San Diego on May 27, when they were exposed to a traveler from Italy with measles. He had also been in Rochester, NY and New York City.
• A traveler to Greece, New York, a suburb of Rochester.
• A student at Greenville Elementary in Cache County, Utah, which led to the quarantine of 15 people, including 8 unvaccinated students.
• A child at the South Shore Nursery School in Cohasset, MA, raising to 17, the total number of measles cases in Massachusetts this year.
• Another case of measles near Albany, NY, which follows a recent case at RPI in Troy, although there is no report that they are related. The new case exposed people during two separate visits to the emergency room, a pediatrician's office, and a few other places.
• A 2-year old partially vaccinated child in Port Orchard, Washington, who has no known source and did not travel out of the country
• An adult in Nassau Count, New York who may have exposed people to measles at a country club, an office building, and medical/office building between May 22 to 25 in Woodbury, Garden City Park, New Hyde Park (Long Island)
• A 14-month-old unvaccinated child in Otero County, New Mexico who had recently traveled to France with his family.
• A traveler from India contracted measles and then got two other people sick in Charlottesville, Virginia. A week later, another suspected measles case has been reported, raising the total number of cases in the Charlottesville outbreak to 4.
• Two more people in Boston with measles, including a partially vaccinated toddler (had one dose of vaccine) and a teenager, neither with a known contact.
• An eight-month-old of Dallas County, Iowa, who could have exposed people to measles at Des Moines International Airport, a pediatrician's office, and a local hospital, which has led to at least 17 people being quarantined, although the health department hasn't been able to locate many of the contacts at the airport.
• A traveler from London who may have exposed passengers on a flight to Houston and then San Diego, where she was taken straight to a local hospital.
• Three unvaccinated people in Brookline, Massachusetts, including two middle school students, who bring the total measles case count in Massachusetts up to 15 this year.
• A San Luis Obispo County, California international traveler, who had recently returned from France, and who brings the total measles case count in California up to 14 this year.
• A student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY, one of only ten students at the school to have an exemption from vaccines, who may have exposed others at multiple locations in Rensselaer County and Albany County.
• An adult traveler from out of the country who may have exposed others when he sought medical attention on May 6 and May 9 at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, New York (Long Island).
• An unvaccinated preschooler in Orlando, Florida, whose case is reported to be unrelated to previous cases in Orlando, and who exposed other people to measles at a local private school, hospital, and doctor's office. The child had not traveled out the country, but has since gotten another non-school age child sick with measles.
• Five new cases in Massachusetts, including a resident of Boston, who may have infected other people while he worked at South Station while he was contagious.
• Three suspected measles at Council Rock School District in Pennsylvania have been reported, linked to foreign exchange students from France.
• Three confirmed cases of measles in Mendocino County, California (on the coast, north of San Francisco), related to a traveler from France, and which brings the 2011 total of measles cases in California to 11.
• An unvaccinated student at Blue Valley North High School in Johnson County, Kansas (just southwest of Kansas City), which then spread to two other children.
• A man in Camden County, New Jersey, who has been diagnosed with probable measles by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services. The case is thought to be related to a visitor from Italy, who arrived in New York and then traveled to Rhode Island a few weeks ago.
• A 9-month-old in Tennessee.
• Two visitors from France, who may have exposed people on a flight from France to Newark Liberty International Airport on April 7 and at a hospital in Denville, NJ.
• A young adult visiting from Italy was diagnosed with measles in Rhode Island. She flew into New York and then drove to Rhode Island, where health officials quickly worked to vaccinate exposed people.
• An unvaccinated teen in Utah, who exposed other students at Olympus High School on March 31, 2011. Twenty-two students will be voluntarily quarantined and excluded from school because they are not appropriately vaccinated with the MMR vaccine. Eight other measles cases have been reported in the area, bringing the total Utah measles count up to nine now, almost all in children who were reportedly not vaccinated against measles. The cases are thought to be linked to a junior high school student who recently traveled to Poland.
• An adult in the Ft. Worth area who likely got measles on a trip to Orlando, Florida, and then spread it to a friend in Texas.
• An infant in Houston, Texas, who reportedly got sick with measles during a family trip to Orlando, Florida. Cases in Minnesota and Michigan are also thought to be linked to Orlando.
• Minneapolis, where a child who was too young to be vaccinated developed measles while traveling from Chicago and Indiana to Minnesota at the end of February (he was likely originally infected in Kenya). As of the end of April, there are now a total of 23 cases of measles in Minnesota - more than the previous 14 years combined.
• Two separate cases in New York City that were imported from travelers to Romania and India, two cases in Tennessee (an adult who was infected while traveling in France, and another adult that he infected back in the U.S.), and one in California. The California case involved a 27-year-old who got measles while traveling to the Philippines and Thailand.
• Boston, where three or four cases of measles followed a case of measles in an employee at the French consulate
• Airports in Washington, D.C. (Dulles International Airport), Denver (concourse C at the Denver International Airport) and Albuquerque (Albuquerque Sunport), where travelers could have been exposed to a 27-year-old passenger who had traveled from the United Kingdom on February 22
• at least one measles case in both Florida (young traveler from the UK) and Texas (unvaccinated toddler who went to the Philippines).
• Clark County, Washington, where people were exposed to an infant with measles who had recently returned from a trip with his family to India and then infected an unvaccinated school age child at their pediatrician's office
• Arizona, where two separate measles cases were reported in Tucson and Phoenix
• Garden City, New York, where an infant with measles could have exposed others at a local mall
• Perry County, Pennsylvania, where at least five children in a family were infected with measles in late January and may have infected another who had contact with them at a local library

In addition to many developing countries where measles is still endemic, 2011 international measles outbreaks have been reported in Europe, Canada, Australia, and other parts of the world.

<sub>Sources:

CDC. Measles — United States, 2011. MMWR. April 20, 2012 / 61(15);253-257

CDC. Notifiable Diseases and Mortality Tables. MMWR. January 7, 2011 / 59(52);1704-1717.

CDC. Outbreak of Measles --- San Diego, California, January--February 2008. MMWR. February 29, 2008 / 57(08);203-206

CDC. Update: Measles --- United States, January--July 2008. MMWR. August 22, 2008 / 57(33);893-896

Manual for the Surveillance of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (4th Edition, 2008)

The Pink Book: Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine Preventable Diseases. Updated 11th Edition, (May 2009)

World Health Organization. Measles Fact Sheet. December 2009. Accessed February 2011.</sub>