By Devi Shastri
AP Health Writer
ASHTABULA COUNTY, Kan. 鈥� A measles outbreak in Kansas doubled in less than a week to 23 cases and has 鈥渁 possible link鈥� to outbreaks in Texas and New Mexico that , the state health department said Wednesday.
And health officials in Ohio say a single case identified in Ashtabula County has spread to nine others. Even before these two growing clusters were reported, the number of measles cases in the U.S. had already surpassed the case count for all of 2024, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment put doctors on high alert on Monday and recommended for infants 6 to 11 months old who live in outbreak counties or near them. Usually, children get the measles, mumps and rubella shot after they turn 1. In outbreaks, early vaccination can be an option.
The state鈥檚 last count Friday included 10 cases across three southwestern counties: Grant, Morton and Stevens. Now, the outbreak includes Haskell, Gray, and Kiowa counties. All but two of the cases are in people younger than 18, state data shows. The outbreak started with a measles case in Stevens County identified on March 13.
In Ohio, 10 cases are in Ashtabula County and a separate visitor in Knox County exposed people there and in several other counties, the state health department said. A measles outbreak in central Ohio sickened 85 in 2022.
鈥淕iven the measles activity in Texas, New Mexico, and other states around the country, we鈥檙e disappointed but not surprised we now have several cases here in Ohio and known exposure in some counties,鈥� said Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff. 鈥淭his disease can be very serious, even deadly, but it is almost entirely avoidable by being properly vaccinated.鈥�
New Mexico had 43 outbreak-associated cases Tuesday and The Oklahoma outbreak 鈥渁ssociated鈥� with Texas and New Mexico has 9 cases.
Public health experts say the outbreak that started in Texas in late January . If it hits other unvaccinated communities across the U.S., as may now be the case in Kansas, the outbreak could endure for a year and threaten the nation鈥檚 status as having eliminated local spread of the vaccine-preventable disease, they said.
Experts consider communities protected from measles outbreaks if they have an MMR vaccination rate of 95% or higher. The two-shot series is required before entering public kindergarten and is 97% effective at protecting against measles.
Several of the Kansas counties seeing measles spread have much lower vaccination rates, including: 82% in , 83% in , 58% in , and 66% in , according to state health department data from the 2023-2024 school year. Statewide, 89% of kindergarteners in Ohio were vaccinated against measles in the 2023-24 school year, CDC data shows.
鈥淒ue to the highly contagious nature of measles, additional cases are likely to occur within the current outbreak area and the surrounding counties, especially among those who are unvaccinated,鈥� said Jill Bronaugh, the Kansas state health department鈥檚 spokeswoman.