March 10 (Reuters) – Measles cases in South Carolina rose to 993 on Tuesday, state health data showed, including two cases since the last update on Friday. Officials have warned that the widening outbreak could last weeks or months amid lagging vaccine uptake. * At least 42 people are in quarantine after being exposedto the […]
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Measles cases in South Carolina rise by 2 to 993, state health department says
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March 10 (Reuters) – Measles cases in South Carolina rose to 993 on Tuesday, state health data showed, including two cases since the last update on Friday.
Officials have warned that the widening outbreak could last weeks or months amid lagging vaccine uptake.
* At least 42 people are in quarantine after being exposedto the virus, and another two people are in isolation. * Of those infected, 927 were unvaccinated, 19 werepartially vaccinated, 26 were fully vaccinated and 21 hadunknown vaccination status. * The outbreak, which began in October, has been centered inthe northwest part of the state, which includes Greenville andSpartanburg. * Most cases were reported in children in the five-to-17 agegroup, followed by those below five years of age. * Three “disease detectives” from the U.S. Centers forDisease and Control’s Epidemic Intelligence Service arescheduled to arrive in the state this week to help analyze datacollected during the outbreak, according to state healthofficials. * Deployment of CDC staff comes after the agency’s newacting director, Jay Bhattacharya, urged Americans to getvaccinated against measles, saying it was the best protectionagainst the disease. * There were 1,281 confirmed measles cases reported in theUnited States in 2026, as of March 5, CDC’s latest data showed.
(Reporting by Padmanabhan Ananthan in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore and Alan Barona)