1 Colo. Measles Case; Boulder Has State-High Vaccine Opt-Out Rate

BOULDER, CO -- The United States has recorded more than 450 measles cases in 2019, a figure that is already the second-highest in a decade, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Through April 4, 2019, there have been 465 measles cases in the United States reported in 19 states, the CDC said. Over the past decade, the only year the U.S. recorded more cases than that was in 2014 when there were 667 cases.

In Colorado, one adult case of measles in Denver has been reported in 2019.

Boulder has the highest rate of parents requesting immunization exemptions in the entire state, an honor that helped prompt local immunization advocate Lindsay Diamond to rent a billboard to promote her message on Highway 93 in January. "Preventing Immunity is worth a shot," it read. "Immunization currently prevents between 2–3 million deaths a year."

The CDC is also monitoring measles outbreaks in seven separate jurisdictions:

Rockland County, New York
New York City
Washington
Santa Cruz County, California
New Jersey
Butte County, California
Michigan

The 19 states that have reported cases to the CDC in 2019 are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.

SEE ALSO: Measles Outbreak Shows Difficulty Balancing Rights, Public Good

Measles is a highly contagious, but completely preventable disease.

The majority of people who get measles are unvaccinated and the disease can spread when it reaches a community where groups of people haven’t received the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR vaccine, according to the CDC. The agency says more measles cases can occur if there’s an increase in the number of travelers to the United States who have measles or if the disease spreads within pockets of unvaccinated communities.

Measles spreads when an infected person coughs or sneezes. The CDC says two doses of the MMR vaccine are about 97 percent effective in preventing measles. One dose of the vaccine is 93 percent effective in preventing measles, the agency said.

You can read more about measles via the CDC here.

Patch national staffer Feroze Dhanoa contributed to this report.