Measles continues to spread in the United States, with more than 704 cases reported so far this year in 22 states.
U.S. health officials on Monday updated the national tally. It has already eclipsed the total for any full year since 1994, when 963 cases were reported.
According to California Department of Public Health data for the 2017-2018 school year — the most recent data available — 95% of California's public school children are vaccinated, but there are pockets of unvaccinated children at the following private and charter schools where only one-third to less than one-quarter of the students are vaccinated:
- Marin Waldorf School in San Rafael
- Berkeley Rose Waldorf School in Berkeley
- Steele Lane Elementary School in Santa Rosa
- Live Oak Charter School in Petaluma
- SunRidge Elementary School in Sebastopol
- Reach School in Sebastopol
- Sebastopol Charter School in Sebastopol
In California, most of the measles cases reported this year involve adults. There have been at least 38 reported cases so far in 2019, mostly in adults who were infected abroad because they were unvaccinated or undervaccinated.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says this year's nationwide count includes 44 people who caught the disease while traveling in another country. Some of them triggered U.S. outbreaks, mostly among unvaccinated people. That includes the largest outbreaks, in Orthodox Jewish communities in and around New York City.
Three-quarters of those who caught the extremely contagious disease are children or teenagers.
No deaths have been reported but 66 patients were hospitalized.
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Measles spreads through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
