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The number of U.S. measles cases through the first three months of this year have surpassed the count for all of 2018, health officials say. There have been 387 cases through March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Monday. There were 372 last year. The numbers are preliminary, and may change. But the 2019 tally is already the most since 2014, when 667 were reported. (4/1)

The upsurge, now at 387 cases, reflects outbreaks that have spread to 15 states, including New York, California, Texas and Washington, according to figures released Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That surpasses the 372 reported for all of last year. Many of those outbreaks originated after unvaccinated individuals traveled to Europe, the Philippines and Israel, where the infection is more common, and returned to the United States after contracting the illness. “Europe is even worse now than North America,” said Peter Hotez, an infectious disease expert at the Baylor College of Medicine. “This is all the new normal. Nobody ever thought we’d ever be at this place.” (Sun, 4/1)

Vaccine rates have dropped slightly in recent years, mostly among children, health experts say, due to the spread of misinformation online about vaccine safety. While every state requires that students receive certain vaccines before starting school, most states also allow exemptions for religious or personal beliefs. (Hellmann, 4/1)

Measles cases have has risen since 2000 as infected travelers bring the disease to the U.S. Those travelers—unvaccinated foreign nationals or Americans who become infected abroad—have spread the highly contagious disease to others in the U.S. who aren’t vaccinated or hadn’t previously had measles. These cases have fueled outbreaks in communities where large numbers of people haven’t been inoculated because of personal or religious exemptions to the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. (Abbott, 4/1)