ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - One of Georgia’s border states reported its first measles case this year, expanding the number of states with measles cases to ten.

Florida is the latest state to report as the outbreak continues to spread across the country.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of Feb. 27, over 160 cases of measles have been reported this year. In one of those cases, a school-aged boy from Texas died. This marks the first death from measles in the United States since 2015.

Dr. Shaun Franklin is a family physician at Phoebe Health. She said the best way to stay safe from measles is to get vaccinated.

“The key is there are two doses for children. So that first dose they receive around 12 to 18 months, the second dose around four to six years old,” said Dr. Franklin. “For adults, most adults are vaccinated, they are immune. But if they receive one of the vaccines that were sort of experimented with in the late ’60s and it wasn’t a live virus, they don’t have immunity. So those patients would need to be vaccinated again.”

Dr. Franklin said people can see if they are immune by getting a blood test at their doctor’s office.

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