Measles outbreaks in Illinois and North Dakota have ended

Health officials in Illinois and North Dakota say their states’ measles outbreaks are over, pointing to a continuing slowdown of measles spread in the U.S. during vaccine-preventable disease’s worst year since 1991.

Wednesday’s national case count stood at 1,309 — 21 new cases in a week, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last week, the U.S. passed the total count for 2019, when the country almost lost its status of having eliminated measles.

A vast majority of this year’s cases are from Texas, where a major outbreak raged through the late winter and spring. Other states with active outbreaks — which the CDC defines as three or more related cases — include Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Utah.

There have been three deaths in the U.S. this year, and all were unvaccinated: two elementary school-aged children in West Texas and an adult in New Mexico.

North America has three other large outbreaks. The longest, in Ontario, Canada, has resulted in 2,244 cases from mid-October through July 8. The province logged its first death June 5 in a baby who got congenital measles but also had other preexisting conditions.

Another outbreak in Alberta, Canada, has sickened 1,323 as of Tuesday. And the Mexican state of Chihuahua had 3,129 measles cases and eight deaths as of Tuesday, according to data from the state health ministry.

Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that’s airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. It is preventable through vaccines and has been considered eliminated from the U.S. since 2000.