PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A measles outbreak that sickened more than 70 people, mostly children, in the Pacific Northwest is finally over, even as the total number of cases nationwide continues to spike to near-record levels , officials said Monday.
Six weeks have passed without a new infection in southwest Washington state. A total of 71 people were infected — a tally that does not include a handful of cases in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle that were linked to the outbreak’s epicenter.
The good news from the Pacific Northwest comes as authorities elsewhere struggled with the most measles cases in the U.S. since 1994. Across the country, 704 cases have been reported in 22 states as of Monday, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.