Feb 4 (Reuters) – South Carolina measles vaccinations jumped by more than 7,000 in January 2026 compared with the same month a year earlier, state health officials said on Wednesday, driven in part by a 72% surge in Spartanburg County, the epicenter of an outbreak that has infected nearly 900 people.
The health officials reported an additional case in Sumter County, part of the Pee Dee region in the northeast area of the state, whose origin could not be traced to any known exposure, raising concerns that measles may be spreading more broadly in South Carolina.
During a press briefing, state epidemiologist Linda Bell said several pregnant women who had been exposed to measles were treated with intravenous immune globulin, or IVIG, an antibody treatment designed to provide passive immunity to the measles virus.
The treatment is given to protect pregnant women from a measles infection during pregnancy, which can threaten the life of the mother and cause complications such as miscarriage, premature birth, low birth weight and measles infection in the infant.
South Carolina reported 876 measles cases on Tuesday, state health data showed, including 29 additional infections since Friday, as officials warned the widening outbreak could last weeks or months amid lagging vaccine uptake.
(Reporting by Siddhi Mahatole in Bengaluru and Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; Editing by Alan Barona)
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