Wisconsin’s public health department has reported the death of a second child infected with measles. The state’s current outbreak is its largest in more than 35 years.
The death follows that of an infant who died of measles in southwestern Wisconsin in early November. It was the first measles death in Wisconsin since 1990. According to figures provided by health officials, nearly 650 measles cases had been recorded in 20 Wisconsin counties as of Friday. That is the highest number of cases in Wisconsin in more than 35 years.
Paula Tran of the Wisconsin public health department urged families to get the recommended vaccinations and to stay home if they may have been exposed to the virus. She called on everyone to “work together to protect those most at risk of severe illness.”
Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, but experts say the disease has returned amid falling vaccination rates. A sharp rise in cases has also been recorded in Minnesota. According to Friday’s figures, 160 cases have been confirmed there, most of them diagnosed after mid-September. That is the highest number recorded in the state in decades. In both Minnesota and Wisconsin, about 93% of preschool-age children were vaccinated in the 2019–2020 school year. By the 2025–2026 school year, the rate had fallen to about 85% in both states, well below the level needed for herd immunity.
Nationwide, 5,412 measles cases had been confirmed in the United States as of Nov. 12, including at least 10 deaths. In Illinois, 29 cases had been diagnosed as of Nov. 12.
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Source: Polski.FM
