Travel Health Notice Reissued for Multiple Measles Outbreaks

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently expanded its Level 1 - Practice Usual Precautions, Travel Health Notice regarding measles outbreaks.

The CDC identified 38 countries with active measles outbreaks on June 29, 2023.

The leader is India, with over 73,000 measles cases.

Historically, measles outbreaks in the U.S. are rare, generally related to unvaccinated travelers. This year, the CDC has reported 15 measles cases in eleven jurisdictions.

Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that spreads through the air by direct contact with infectious droplets or by airborne spread when an infected person breathes, coughs, or sneezes. Furthermore, the measles virus can live for up to two hours in airspace after an infected person leaves an area.

And infected people can spread measles up to four days before and four days after a rash appears.

The good news is measles is a vaccine-preventable disease.

Approved measles vaccines are generally available at clinics and pharmacies in the U.S.