The 33-year high of nearly 1,300 confirmed measles infections across the United States is a new milestone in an ongoing outbreak of the highly contagious, vaccine-preventable disease that was once thought to have been eliminated in the country.

The outbreak comes amid a rise in irrational anti-vaccination sentiment. Health officials say that measles spread is occurring mostly in neighbourhoods where vaccination rates are lower, such as Mennonite communities in Texas that opt out of modern medicine.

According to the BBC, measles cases have been reported in 38 states and the District of Columbia this year. At least three people have died from the illness, and 155 others were in hospital.

The Centres for Disease Control (CDC) says a vast majority of the measles cases − 92% − were  people who were either unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown.

The worst-hit state is Texas, CDC data shows, where more than 700 cases have been reported. Other states with dozens of cases include Kansas and New Mexico.

The outbreak comes as anti-vaccine sentiment in the US and elsewhere has grown in recent years.

Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr had previously spread misinformation about childhood vaccinations and had minimised the significance of the outbreak. He later endorsed the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine as the illness spread, saying in a post on X that it is “the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles”.

Measles cases in the US were at their highest in recent memory in 1990, with nearly 28,000 reported infections, according to CDC data.

The illness was later declared eliminated around the year 2000, when cases sharply declined to less than 90, thanks to high vaccination rates and rapid outbreak response.

The BBC notes that the MMR vaccine is considered the most effective way to fight off the dangerous virus, which can lead to pneumonia, brain swelling and death. The jabs are 97% effective. They also immunise against mumps and rubella.

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