After 42 days of no new cases, Philadelphia health officials said the recent measles outbreak is officially over.
There were a total of eight people in Philadelphia and one person outside of the city who tested positive for measles during this outbreak, health officials said.
According to health officials, six of the Philadelphia cases were hospitalized and ultimately discharged. Six of the cases were children and two were adults.
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Measles is a highly infectious virus that can cause serious consequences, health officials said. Due to the 93% of Philadelphians who are up-to-date on their MMR vaccine, the outbreak did not spread further.
“In the past, Philadelphia has suffered from extensive measles outbreaks,” Philadelphia Health Department Director of Disease Control Dr. Landrus Burress said in a news release. “Thanks to quick work by our staff and collaboration with healthcare and childcare systems throughout the region, we were able to keep this outbreak small and quickly resolved. I am grateful to the hundreds of thousands of Philadelphians who have safely gotten their routine MMR vaccination, you helped keep us safe.”
Due to the outbreak, the Health Department held free vaccine clinics to allow residents to catch up on their MMR vaccine schedule.
Health officials recommend that everyone in Philadelphia speak with their healthcare provider to see if they need to receive their MMR vaccine.
The MMR vaccine is available at many healthcare provider offices and pharmacies.
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