(Image source from: Medicine news line)

The highly infectious disease measles is sweeping the United States nearly after 19 years it was declared eliminated from the nation.

With one case reported this year, Arizona is part of the second-largest U.S. measles outbreak since 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As of March 28, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 387 measles cases. The largest outbreaks come from 15 states, including New York, California, New Jersey, Washington, and Arizona.

In Arizona, a 12-month-old was diagnosed with measles in Pima County on March 8, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. Officials said the case was due to "Asia-involved travel."

In March, just after the first reported case, ADHS Director Cara Christ told The Republic she expected to see "round two" of the disease. However, no additional cases have been reported.

In Arizona, three confirmed cases were reported in 2014, according to the ADHS. The largest measles outbreak in Arizona since 2000 was in 2016 when Arizona saw an outbreak at an Eloy detention center where 32 cases were confirmed, the ADHS said. The 2016 outbreak was the largest in the United States that year.

Most of the people who get measles have not been vaccinated with the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine. When unvaccinated people then travel to Europe, Asia, the Pacific, and Africa, they are more likely to contract the disease. Once home, they spread it to those around them who also may not have been vaccinated, the CDC said.

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams told parents when he visited Phoenix in February that he recommended vaccination for all children.

“We need to help parents understand that vaccines are safe, vaccines are effective, and they are the greatest public health advancement in the last 100 years," he said.

"We have a vaccine to prevent measles. We have a cure for measles. We eradicated measles in this country, and it has made a resurgence."

By Sowmya Sangam