Pennsylvanias measles outbreak is the countrys largest in three decades

Pennsylvania’s measles outbreak is now the largest in the U.S.in three decades.

On Monday, the state surpassed South Carolina’s outbreak from earlier this year, which topped out at 997.That outbreak was contained within six months.

Pennsylvania’s outbreak, which began in late April, shows no sign of slowing.“I would bet that this goes on for at least another three to six months,” said Dr.John Goldman, an infectious disease expert at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

“We have seen an increase in vaccinations, but we aren’t seeing enough people get vaccinated to stop the epidemic.”On Monday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 1,004 measles cases, with 198 hospitalizations.Nearly a third of the cases have been in children.Among the pediatric measles cases, 18% have needed hospitalization.

Dehydration has become a common problem, particularly among babies and younger children, said Dr.Evan Shirey, a pediatric infectious disease physician at Penn State Health Golisano Children’s Hospital in Hershey.Doctors are also seeing young patients with liver problems.“One of the more common things that the measles virus can do is cause hepatitis or infection of the liver,” Shirey said.

“These children will feel very sick, very nauseous, with abdominal pain and vomiting, and they can’t take a bottle or can’t keep food or liquid down.”Other children are developing severe and irreversible neurological damage because of brain inflammation, or encephalitis, Shirey said.“In some of these cases, it’s a child who can’t recognize their own mother, who’s disoriented and confused,” Shirey said.

Still others have developed secondary bacterial infections.Five people in the state have died, according to the health department.Those people include a teenager with severe brain inflammation and a 40-year-old woman with a history of asthma, as well as two babies.

One of those babies was a newborn who died after his mother went into...