There is a measles outbreak that is stretching across the United States. For those of you who do not know, measles is an infectious disease that causes fever and a red rash. The last time a case like this has happened was in 1994. It was deemed eliminated in 2000, but after 19 years, the disease has slowly resurfaced.

In 2010, there were only 63 cases, but by 2014 the number increased to 667. After dying down for about four years, the United States hit its highest number of cases after just five months.

Since December of 2018, there have been 839 cases of measles.

As of right now the states that have affected people are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, and Washington.

One might ask, why this major spike? What happens is that travelers get measles from other countries and bring it back to the us, affecting those who are unvaccinated, many of those people being children.

So, if you are vaccinated, do not worry you are safe, but say a prayer for those who are not, as they are easily susceptible to this rapidly growing disease.