A few weeks ago, we warned you about clusters of multiple, vaccine-preventable infection in North Carolina and South Carolina. Add New Jersey and New York to the list of states with communities seeing outbreaks of measles at present. The New Jersey Department of Health has confirmed 33 cases of measles in two counties; all three of the cases in one of those counties occurred in the same household, and nine cases confirmed in the other county have been linked to each other. Most of the cases have involved patients who were not up to date on their measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccines. In New York, Rockland County has seen 96 cases; 50 more have occurred in Brooklyn. In both locations, the outbreaks have occurred in Orthodox Jewish communities that do not encourage vaccination. Urgent care providers in those areas (and all areas, really) should be especially assertive in asking about the MMR status of new patients, and encourage those who may not be up to date to get vaccinated.
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Update: Measles Cases Jump, This Time in the Northeast