Fewer new measles cases reported last week in U.S.

There were just over a dozen measles cases reported last week in the United States, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday.

As of Thursday, there had been 1,109 reported cases in 28 states, an increase of 14 cases from the previous week. That is a smaller number of new cases than has been typical this spring, but experts say it is too soon to declare victory in the current measles outbreak, CNN reported.

So far this year, there have been more cases reported in the United States since 1992 and since the measles virus was eliminated in the United States in 2000.

"We're in a new normal now," Peter Hotez, M.D., dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine and codirector of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, both in Houston, told CNN. "We haven't seen measles epidemics in the United States for over 20 years."

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