South Carolina has reported 558 measles outbreaks and continues to spread rapidly.

Ken Ruinard/USA Today Network (via Reuters)

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Ken Ruinard/USA Today Network (via Reuters)

South Carolina on Friday reported 124 new measles cases over the past three days, bringing the total number of cases of the rapidly spreading measles disease in the state to 558. In the last week alone, the number of infections has almost doubled.

“We currently have the largest outbreak in the United States, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better.” Dr. Helmut Albrecht, Infectious disease physicians at Prisma Health and the University of South Carolina School of Medicine said at a press conference Friday. Hundreds of people are already in isolation or quarantine in other parts of the state.

epicenter Located in Spartanburg Countyin the northwestern part of the state.
The region has also seen a surge in the number of students exempted from mandatory school vaccinations for non-medical reasons since the pandemic. New research published this week Published in JAMA magazine found that these exemptions are expanding in counties across the United States, making them more vulnerable to outbreaks.

There are also growing concerns that the infection may be spreading outside the prefecture. there is already 6 items In neighboring North Carolina, the outbreak has been linked to Spartanburg.

“We have lost the ability to contain this with the immunity we have,” Albrecht said, urging the public to get vaccinated.

Spartanburg County’s student vaccination rate is 90% overall, which is below the 95% threshold needed to prevent measles. Measles is one of them most infectious diseases. On average, one infected person can infect up to 18 people.

A rapidly spreading outbreak

South Carolina’s outbreak began in October and has exploded in recent weeks, with 248 new cases reported this week alone. Most of them are unvaccinated children and teens. State epidemiologist Linda Bell said at a media conference earlier this week that hundreds of children have been quarantined since the outbreak began, and infections are occurring in many public places.

“New potential public exposure locations identified in the past week include churches, restaurants, businesses, and many health care settings,” Bell said.

Bell warned that unvaccinated people are more susceptible to infection.

Decrease in vaccination rates, increase in exemption amounts

Although 90% of Spartanburg County students meet their school vaccination requirements, a deeper look reveals areas with much lower vaccination rates. Bell said some schools have vaccination rates as low as 20%.

Spartanburg County also has a relatively high number of non-medical exemptions for vaccines. About 8% of students have such exemptions, a significant increase from just 3% in 2020, according to data published concurrently with the new JAMA study. These are parents who refuse mandatory school vaccinations.

Tim Smith’s wife, a teaching assistant in Spartanburg County, contracted measles from one of her students and had to go to the hospital with severe symptoms, even though she was vaccinated. Smith told the district school board this week that Spartanburg’s exemption is spiraling out of control.

“It’s absolute madness,” Smith said. “She was completely dehydrated. There are laws in place that require vaccinations. For some reason, someone decided that you could apply for a religious exemption, so anyone can apply and get vaccinated.”

And it’s not just religious exemptions. most states Allowing parents to waive some form of non-medical vaccination requirement at school for philosophical, personal, or religious reasons.

There is an increasing trend nationwide.

A new JAMA study finds that non-medical exemption rates have steadily increased in the majority of U.S. counties, a trend that has accelerated since the pandemic. Researchers examined exemption data from more than 3,000 counties and jurisdictions in 45 U.S. states and the District of Columbia from 2010 to 2024.

In most states, even though overall vaccination rates are high, some areas have high rates of these non-medical exemptions. Dr. Nathan Law is a physician-scientist at Stanford University and one of the study authors.

“If you think about infectious disease outbreaks, it only takes a small number of undervaccinated people to start and sustain an outbreak,” Lo says.

They say higher exemption amounts tend to lower vaccination rates, leaving many communities more vulnerable to potential outbreaks. michael osterholmDirector of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. He says all they need is one spark to ignite it.

“There’s a lot more people in South Carolina waiting to happen,” he says.