Health authorities in South Carolina are seeing hopeful signs that the country’s most significant measles outbreak in over three decades may be beginning to subside, with infections declining for two consecutive weeks.
During a Wednesday briefing, state epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell credited the dedicated efforts of public health workers for the positive trend. “The hard work and long hours that frontline, often entry-level epidemiologists, have put into this response are largely responsible for this downward trend that is actually occurring a bit earlier than previously projected,” Bell stated, while cautioning that the outbreak “is not by any means over.”
South Carolina has enlisted assistance from infectious disease specialists through the nonprofit CDC Foundation to help manage the crisis, which has become the most extensive measles outbreak nationwide since 1992. As of Tuesday, health officials have documented 979 confirmed cases.
The disease surge started in October and has primarily affected communities in the state’s northwestern counties, particularly around Greenville and Spartanburg areas.
