Number of US measles cases climbs to 764

[freemexy]

Number of US measles cases climbs to 764
The number of measles cases in the U.S. continues to climb, with 60 new cases reported since last week, breaking recent records. To get more Breaking news videos, you can visit shine news official website.

There have been a total of 764 individual cases of measles reported in the U.S. this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The number of states impacted by the outbreaks has increased from 22 to 23, as Pennsylvania now has at least one reported case of measles.

Less than two weeks ago, the number of measles cases reported in 2019 broke the previous recent annual record, beating 667 cases reported in 2014. At the time, that was the highest number of cases reported since the disease was eliminated in the U.S.

The new number of measles cases reported Monday means that so far this year, there have been nearly 100 more cases than there were in all of 2014.

New York has the highest number of reported measles cases, but other states already have double digit tallies.

California has reported 40 cases in 12 counties. New Jersey has reported 14 cases so far this year, and the state's department of health said there were currently 12 cases in two counties.

The outbreaks in New York -- in both New York City and in suburban Rockland County -- first began in the fall of 2018, and have continued into this year.

As of May 3, there were 214 cases of measles in Rockland County, according to the health department. Of those cases, 79.7% of infected individuals were unvaccinated.

In New York City, there have been 423 confirmed measles cases in Brooklyn and Queens between the start of the outbreak in October 2018 and April 29, 2019.

The city's health department states that "most of these cases have involved members of the Orthodox Jewish community."

Of the 17 measles outbreaks that occurred across the country in 2018, three contributed the highest number of cases, and those cases "occurred primarily among unvaccinated people in Orthodox Jewish communities," according to the CDC.