Maricopa County announced three new measles cases on Wednesday connected to an East Valley outbreak, bringing the county’s total to 13 for the year so far.
The county health department said 96% of cases are in unvaccinated individuals, but has not shared how many positive cases are children and whether any have suffered serious health effects. Measles is an incredibly contagious disease that can be especially dangerous to unvaccinated individuals, particularly very young children. Two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is 97% effective at preventing the disease.
Thirteen positive measles cases are the most the county has had since at least 2006, according to data from the Arizona Department of Health Services. Maricopa County had no cases last year and two in 2024. Before this year, the most the county has seen over the last 20 years was five cases in 2022…