Nearly 50 new measles cases reported amid outbreaks in Arizona and South Carolina

Nearly 50 new measles cases were reported in the United States on Tuesday, driven largely by expanding outbreaks in Arizona and South Carolina, according to state health departments.

South Carolina added 27 cases linked to its Upstate outbreak, according to the South Carolina Department of Public Health. Arizona reported 21 new cases in its weekly update, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.

South Carolina health officials said the Upstate outbreak there has reached 111 cases, with 114 reported statewide this year. Health officials said 254 people are currently in quarantine and 16 are in isolation.

SCDPH said the newly confirmed infections include 16 linked to an exposure at the Way of Truth Church in Inman, eight household contacts of known cases, one connected to a school exposure, one linked to a health-care setting, and one case with an unknown source.

Health officials said 105 of those infected were unvaccinated, three had received one MMR dose, one was fully vaccinated, and vaccination status was unknown for two people. Most of the cases involved individuals under 18 years old.

Arizona health officials reported 176 measles cases so far this year, including 21 newly added cases in the latest weekly update. The Arizona Department of Health Services said six people have been hospitalized.

Officials said 97% of cases involved unvaccinated individuals and 66% involved people under 18. The outbreak is centered in Mohave County, which accounts for 172 of the reported infections.

Arizona’s outbreak is the second-largest in the country this year, followed by the South Carolina outbreak. Health officials said the Arizona outbreak has also spread into Utah, where 115 cases have been reported, most of them in southwestern Utah and tied to the outbreak in Mohave County.

The largest outbreak occurred in West Texas, where health officials confirmed 762 cases and two deaths before declaring it over in August. The outbreak spread into New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas, where more than 100 additional cases and one death were reported.

A total of 1,904 measles cases have been reported nationwide so far this year, according to a BNO News count of state health department updates.