TUESDAY, Feb. 17, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- The number of measles cases in the United States has reached 141 patients in 17 states and the District of Columbia, federal health officials reported Tuesday.

The outbreak began at two Disney theme parks in southern California in December, the CDC says, and it's believed that the source of the infection was likely a foreign visitor or a U.S. resident returning from abroad.

Measles is still common in many parts of the world, including some countries in Europe, Asia, the Pacific and Africa, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The majority of people who've gotten measles in the current outbreak were unvaccinated, the agency said.

The CDC offered the following state-by-state breakdown for cases recorded by Feb. 13: Arizona, 7 cases; California, 98 cases; Colorado, 1 case; District of Columbia, 1 case; Delaware, 1 case; Illinois, 11 cases; Michigan, 1 case; Minnesota, 1 case; Nebraska, 2 cases; New Jersey, 1 case; New York, 2 cases; Nevada, 4 cases; Oregon, 1 case; Pennsylvania, 1 case; South Dakota, 2 cases; Texas, 1 case; Utah, 2 cases; and Washington, 4 cases.

Most of the cases -- 113 cases, or 80 percent -- have been linked to the outbreak that started at the Disney parks in California, officials said.

The biggest rise in infections occurred in Illinois, where cases jumped from three last week to 11 this week.

The United States declared measles eliminated in 2000, meaning that the virus was no longer native to this country. However, the nation experienced a record number of measles cases in 2014, with 644 cases in 27 states. This was the greatest number of cases since measles elimination was documented in 2000.

Since 2000, annual reported cases of the highly infectious disease have ranged from a low of 37 in 2004 to the high of 644 in 2014, the CDC said.

At a news briefing last month, Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said the "majority of the adults and children that are reported to us for which we have information did not get vaccinated, or don't know whether they have been vaccinated. This is not a problem of the measles vaccine not working. This is a problem of the measles vaccine not being used."