Health officials near Portland, Oregon, have declared a public health emergency over a measles outbreak that’s affecting mostly young children.
Clark County, Washington, has identified 23 cases and seven suspected cases; 18 of those are among children younger than 10 years old, officials said Wednesday. None of the people infected were vaccinated, Public Health Director Alan Melnick told CBS News.
The county has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the state, with more than 22 percent of public school students having not completed their vaccinations, The Oregonian reports, citing state records.
Measles is so contagious that 90 percent of unvaccinated people who come in contact with an infected person will get the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The virus can also spread four days before and after symptoms appear.
NBA fans who attended a Portland Trail Blazers basketball game in Oregon earlier this month may have been exposed to measles, health officials in the state said.
This comes as officials in nearby Vancouver, Washington, in Clark County said the confirmed number of measles cases in that county has climbed to 23.
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