A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
A year ago this week, Texas reported the first measles case in what became a major outbreak. Now measles is spreading rapidly in South Carolina, which confirmed more than 200 new cases in the last week alone. As NPR's Maria Godoy reports, this comes as the U.S. is poised to lose its measles elimination status.
MARIA GODOY, BYLINE: With 646 confirmed cases so far, South Carolina is struggling to contain its measles outbreak. Dr. Demetre Daskalakis is an infectious disease physician and a former top official with the CDC.
DEMETRE DASKALAKIS: We are nowhere close to being able to say that this is coming under control, and it is in a very aggressively fast growth phase.
GODOY: The vast majority of cases to date are in children and teens who are unvaccinated. But Clemson University and Anderson University have recently reported cases, and North Carolina has confirmed several cases linked to the South Carolina outbreak. Across the country in Washington state, officials say five children caught measles from a family visiting from South Carolina. Dr. Anna-Kathryn Burch is a pediatric infectious disease specialist with Prisma Health.
ANNA-KATHRYN BURCH: It breaks my heart to see South Carolina have such a large outbreak. I'm from here, born and raised. This is my state. And I think that we are going to see those numbers continue to grow over the next several months.
GODOY: The latest surge is another test of the country's ability to contain measles and whether the U.S. will keep its measles elimination status. That's given to countries that have not had continuous chains of measles transmission for more than a year. For the U.S., the clock started last January with the Texas outbreak. In a press call, Dr. Ralph Abraham, the No. 2 leader at the CDC, downplayed the potential loss of the elimination status, saying it won't impact how the administration tackles measles. He said the administration supports the measles vaccine, but...
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RALPH ABRAHAM: The president, secretary - we talk all the time about religious freedom, health freedom, personal freedom. And I think we have to respect those communities that choose to go a - somewhat of a different route.
GODOY: But the choice not to vaccinate is what's driving these outbreaks. Daskalakis says the resurgence of measles is being fueled by misinformation that undermines trust in vaccines.
Maria Godoy, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF ROBERT GLASPER'S "RECKONER") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
