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Surveillance Summary Measles -- United States, First 26 Weeks, 1982

A total of 895 measles cases were reported in the United States during the first 26 weeks of 1982, a record low for the first 6 months of any year and a decrease of 60.6% from the 2,270 cases reported during the same period last year. Fewer than 100 measles cases in any 1 week were reported for the first 26 weeks of 1982, and record low numbers of cases were reported for 25 of those weeks. Fewer than 100 cases of measles per week have now been reported for 55 consecutive weeks.

As in previous years, incidence of reported measles peaked in late spring (Figure 1). However, the peak was considerably lower than in 1980 and 1981, years in which measles incidence had already declined to record lows.

The overall incidence for the United States during the first 26 weeks of 1982 was 0.4/l00,000 total population. Only two states reported measles incidences of greater than or equal to 1/100,000. In contrast, seven states in 198l and 30 states in 1980 reported such rates for the first 26 weeks. The highest measles incidence in the first 26 weeks of 1982 was reported from California (2.27 cases/100,000 population), followed by Kansas (1.51), New York (0.78), Washington (0.59), and Michigan (0.42). Twenty-three states reported no measles cases, as compared with 13 states in 1981 and five in 1980. To date 47 states have reported no measles for at least 4 consecutive weeks. By contrast, 44 states in 1981 and 31 states in 1980 were free of reported measles for at least 4 consecutive weeks. During the first 26 weeks of 1982, a provisional total of 137 (4.4%) of the nation's 3,144 counties reported measles (Figure 2), compared with a provisional total of 247 (7.9%) counties during the same period in 1981.

A provisional total of 64 cases of imported measles* were reported to CDC during the first 26 weeks of 1982, an average of 2.5 cases per week. Twelve of these 64 imported cases led to an additional 164 cases within the United States. Measles importations and importation-related cases accounted for 25.5% of the total cases reported. Of the 64 measles importations, 42 (65.6%) involved U.S. citizens. Reported by: Immunization Div, Center for Prevention Svcs, CDC. *A case is considered to be imported if a person has onset of rash less than or equal to 18 days after arriving in the United States from a foreign country and has no other apparent source of infection.

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**Questions or messages regarding errors in formatting should be addressed to mmwrq@cdc.gov.

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