No new measles cases reported for first time in 2019

ByMEGHAN KENEALLY ABCNews logo
Tuesday, September 17, 2019

The fight against the record-breaking number of measles cases in the U.S. appears to have had a small victory.

There were no new cases of measles reported from Sept. 6 to 12 in the U.s., the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported Monday, which appears to signal that the spread of the previously eradicated disease is slowing.

This is the first time since the start of 2019 that no new cases were reported, the CDC confirmed to ABC News.

The CDC also noted that there are only two active outbreaks in the country right now, which they describe as areas where there are three or more cases.

Both of the ongoing outbreaks are in New York, with one in Rockland County and the second in Wyoming County.

That means that the sizable outbreak in New York City is over, which the CDC confirmed on Sept. 3. They also noted that the outbreak in El Paso, Texas, ended on Sept. 12.

Monday's update proves that the areas of concern have dropped dramatically, as there were confirmed cases in 31 states throughout the year, which is now down to one.

The month-by-month number of cases shows a clear peak in April, when there were 314 reported cases. That has since dissipated steadily since.

All told, there have been 1,241 cases this year, which is the greatest number of cases in the U.S. since 1992, the CDC reports. The next-highest number of cases in the past decade came in 2014, when there were 667 cases reported.

Of the total number of cases, more than 75% were tied to the outbreaks in New York.

The CDC also noted that the ongoing outbreaks in Rockland and Wyoming Counties were linked to travelers who had gone to Israel, Ukraine or the Philippines, where there are large active outbreaks.

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