Copyright Charleston Post and Courier
Only seven people in Spartanburg County have taken advantage of public health mobile clinics offering vaccine despite the ongoing measles outbreak there that has infected 20 people, the South Carolina state epidemiologist said. “It is disappointing,” Dr. Linda Bell said. “We do hope that more people will take advantage of this option moving forward.” The state added four new cases this week to the ongoing measles outbreak in Spartanburg County first identified with two schools there, Fairforest Elementary and Global Academy of South Carolina. Two were among the students quarantining at home after being in close contact to an infected case at one of the schools, which were first identified Oct. 2. Two were from a business in Spartanburg that Bell would not identify, saying it had “no public exposures” that would put the community at greater risk. But there is evidence of ongoing community spread in general, and for that reason there is concern the outbreak may grow, she said. “We are now in South Carolina experiencing an outbreak, and we may not be able to track the source of all cases,” Bell said. South Carolina sent clinical samples to a lab for genetic testing to specifically identify the measles outbreak strain in the Palmetto State and it may be linked to outbreaks in other areas of the country, she said.
