SIERRA COUNTY, N.M. (KRQE) –
The New Mexico Department of Health has confirmed a case of the measles in a 1-year-old child from Sierra County.
The department says the case has been under investigation for over a week, the CDC confirmed the case with testing.
Health officials say they have worked to identify people who may have been exposed to prevent it from spreading. More than 20 states have cases of measles, and more than 800 cases have been reported since measles were declared eradicated.
This is the first case of measles in New Mexico since December 2014. The Department of Health says it is working with PED to improve vaccine record keeping in schools.
In March, the New Mexico Dept. of Health reported that in the last seven years, the state has seen an increase in the number of children who were not vaccinated. The department stated that in 2018, 4,441 school-aged children had an exemption for vaccination filed with the DOH.
The NMDOH recommends children without medical exceptions receive two doses of the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state since May 10, 2019, there have been 839 individuals cases of measles confirmed in 23 states. This is the greatest number of measles cases reported in America since 1994 according to the CDC.
