More from the cited article ...

... According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, just 60.1% of students at Shining Light Baptist Academy are vaccinated against measles. A vaccination rate of at least 95% is the accepted level of herd immunity needed to protect against a measles outbreak.

"If you have schools that have very low vaccination rates, you essentially create a tinder box for measles, because it is so incredibly contagious," said Dr. Deborah Greenhouse, a past president of the South Carolina chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. "That's what happened in the upstate of South Carolina, and that's exactly what can happen over and over again if the disease spreads to other areas with low vaccination rates." ...

Most of those sickened are children and teenagers, health officials said. At least 23 schools in South Carolina have students in quarantine.

South Carolina's outbreak has exploded at a dizzying pace. The first cases were reported in late September and picked up steam during the holidays....