Measles

The CDC issued an alert to health care providers in the United States last week to be on the lookout for measles after receiving reports of 23 confirmed cases between Dec. 1 and Jan. 23.

Measles cases and deaths have increased in recent years, with roughly 9 million cases and 136,000 deaths globally in 2022.

Measles cases rose globally by nearly 20% in 2022, and measles deaths increased by almost half, according to data published Thursday in MMWR by the CDC and WHO.

Routine vaccination rates among kindergartners in the United States remained lower than pre-pandemic levels last school year as vaccine exemptions increased to an all-time high, according to data published Thursday by the CDC.

SEATTLE — An epidemiologist whose hospital responded to a recent measles outbreak described how the hospital was able to eliminate patient exposures with an intervention bundle that used electronic medical records.

The percentage of kindergarteners who had received certain routine childhood immunizations declined again last school year, CDC researchers reported Thursday.

Since the beginning of November, the central Ohio region has experienced an outbreak of measles that now totals 24 cases — all of them in unvaccinated children, according to the city of Columbus.

LISBON, Portugal — In 2018, Europe reported nearly 83,000 cases of measles — a 15-fold increase over 2016. Four countries lost their measles elimination status the following year amid the surge, which was linked to gaps in vaccination.

Phase 3 trial results of Regeneron’s casirivimab and imdevimab regimen showed an 81.6% reduced risk for COVID-19 over 2 to 8 months of follow up compared with placebo. A report on the data was the top story in infectious disease last week.

In 2020, more than 22 million infants globally did not receive a first dose of measles vaccine — the largest number in 2 decades, according to a report published Wednesday in MMWR.