After several new confirmed cases of measles in Michigan, State Health officials are closely watching the outbreak of the virus thought to be long gone in the United States.
ccording to State Health officials, eight new cases of measles have been confirmed as of April 2 in Oakland County, which brings the total number of measles cases in 2019 to 30.
29 of those confirmed cases have been in Oakland County while the state says one confirmed case is in Wayne County.
The state says those who have been infected with measles in the state range in age from one to 63 and most cases have been found in adults.
Health officials say the recent resurgence of measles is a result of two factors, those being sick people traveling to and from the country and people choosing to not get vaccinated.
In the Detroit-area outbreak officials say ‘Patient Zero’ came from Israel and the virus was spread through un-vaccinated groups of people.
"If someone has the disease and they're in a room with a group of people who have not been vaccinated, 9 out of the 10 people in that room who are not vaccinated will get the disease," said Dr. Nirali Bora, Medical Director of Kent County.
The last time Michigan had as many measles cases was almost 30 years ago in 1992 when 65 cases were reported.
The put the national measles outbreak in perspective, the Centers for Disease Control says the number of confirmed cases right now is the second most in the United States since the disease was eliminated by the vaccine in 2000.
There have been nearly 400 individual cases confirmed in 15 states from January 1, 2019 to March 28.
The CDC says one dose of the measles vaccine, known as the MMR vaccine, is about 93% effective at preventing measles if you come in contract with the virus. Two doses are about 97% effective.
Health officials in Michigan and across the country say the best thing to prevent against measles is to get vaccinated.
