Well, New Jersey now has three confirmed cases of measles, according to the Department of Health.

All are linked to a child from Bergen County who recently traveled abroad.

And none of the patients were vaccinated.

It comes amid a growing outbreak nationwide, with the U.S. reporting its first death from the disease since 2015.

An unvaccinated school aged child in Texas, where cases have now topped more than 120.

Experts point to declining vaccination rates worldwide since the COVID-19 pandemic and warn of the potential health risks here in the state.

Officials say, The two newest cases are individuals who had close contact with the initial patient and they each remain under quarantine to prevent the spread.

For all the latest and what you need to know, I'm joined by Dr. Meg Fisher, a pediatric infectious disease specialist.

Doctor Fisher, good to have your expertise on this today.

What can you tell us about what we know on how this initial patient, this initial child contracted measles?

So it depends on which outbreak we're talking about.

We do have three cases of measles here in new Jersey.

We know that that person was an unvaccinated traveler who, went overseas, came back on and was diagnosed on, February 14th.

Since then, there have been two additional cases in new Jersey.

Both of those were contacts of that unvaccinated traveler, and both were also unvaccinated.

How easily transmitted is this virus and what should people know?

Thank you for asking.

Measles is the most contagious disease that we know of.

So where we say influenza would be likely to infect 1 or 2 other people, for measles it's 12 to 16 other people.

So if someone has measles and they're around people who are not protected by having been immunized or having had disease, then for every one person you'll infect another over a dozen.

So it's a very, very contagious disease.

What makes it more frightening?

It is.

It is truly airborne.

So this makes, the spread of disease very likely.

And you can see that in Texas, where over a few weeks, over 130 people have been infected between Texas and New Mexico.

So then what role, Doctor Fisher, do vaccinations play here?

Because, of course, respiratory illnesses we know.

Always tricky.

But something as highly contagious as measles.

What's the role of of vaccines.

Vaccines are absolutely 100% preventative.

So if a person has had one vaccine, there's a 93% chance that they will be protected for their entire life.

Now we're talking that one measles, mumps, rubella vaccine.

If they've had two doses, then that goes up to 97 to 99% chance that they will be protected for their life.

Pretty good odds.

If you're looking at it on paper, what's concerning or most concerning to you about seeing these cases and the rise elsewhere, is it, less uptake on pediatric immunizations?

Is it misinformation about these viruses and the danger or the threat that they pose?

I think it's lots of things.

Mainly it's people not getting vaccinated.

Especially during the pandemic, people tended to not want to go to health care centers, which was understandable.

But it means that our immunization rate among children has dropped from in the 90% to way down into somewhere in the 80%.

So the more for measles, because it's so contagious, you have to have 95% of people in a community immunized in order to protect everyone.

So this means that really we need everybody to be vaccinated.

Yeah, that immunity that we talked so much about over the last few years, very quickly at the time that we have left.

What can people do then vaccinating but to prevent the spread of this disease?

So the first thing is to think about it.

And what we what we know is it starts with fever and then falls and a runny nose and red eyes.

Then you get, these marks in inside your mouth and then the rash comes on.

So you have fever, cough and red eyes for about three days before the rash comes along.

So it's difficult to make that diagnosis quickly.

There are lots of viruses that can give you fever.

Red eyes.

And therefore, if you even think your child may have measles or may have been exposed, you should get in touch with people ahead of time so that they don't expose other people.

So if you're going to see your doctor, call them, tell them you're concerned your child might have measles.

They will usually see your child out in the parking lot or somewhere where they won't expose other children or other adults.

Dr. Meg Fisher, always good to talk to you.

Thank you so much.

A pleasure to see you again.

Take care.

Be well.