{"id":441836,"date":"2025-12-12T06:54:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T06:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/441836\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T06:54:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T06:54:24","slug":"measles-spread-in-utah-raises-concern-amid-holiday-gatherings-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/441836\/","title":{"rendered":"Measles spread in Utah raises concern amid holiday gatherings \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Utah&#8217;s measles cases surged to at least 115, the highest in over 30 years.<\/li>\n<li>Contact tracing is crucial to curb measles spread effectively.<\/li>\n<li>Complications from measles threaten vulnerable populations like infants and immunocompromised people.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">With calendars filled with holiday gatherings and 26 more residents diagnosed with measles within the last three weeks, Utah health experts are concerned that case counts may climb even higher than the current 115 confirmed so far this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">State epidemiologist Dr. Leisha Nolen is pretty sure there are cases that haven\u2019t been included in the official count. It\u2019s concerning, she said, because Utah hasn\u2019t had this many measles cases in more than 30 years. Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 1,912 cases in 2025 \u2014 the highest number since the disease was considered eliminated here in 2000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The U.S. could actually lose that declared status soon if any outbreak lasts more than 12 months. Canada recently lost its status as a country where measles was eradicated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">In Utah specifically, it doesn\u2019t help that measles was first seen largely in the southern part of the state near the Arizona border, but there have now been cases in central and northern Utah, too, according to the Utah Department of Health and Human Services\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/files.epi.utah.gov\/Utah%20measles%20dashboard.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/files.epi.utah.gov\/Utah%20measles%20dashboard.html\">measles dashboard<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Thursday, during a media briefing, Nolen said that cases have been confirmed recently in Salt Lake, Davis, Utah and Wasatch counties, among others. And they\u2019re expecting to learn of more because measles is an incredibly contagious illness that can linger in the air for up to two hours.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">If 20 people who were unvaccinated or never had measles were to be exposed, 18 of them would come down with measles, Nolen said. It\u2019s more contagious than the flu or COVID-19 or pretty much anything else.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">A happy note, according to Nolen and Dorothy Adams, a Salt Lake County Health expert speaking on behalf of the Utah Association of Local Health Departments, is that about 90% of Utah residents are vaccinated against measles. Tempering that is the fact that herd immunity requires a 95% vaccination rate. When enough people are vaccinated, it largely stops the spread, shielding those who for various reasons cannot be vaccinated, including very young babies, who Nolen described as very vulnerable.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.38;background-color:#F3F1F0;cursor:pointer\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/JUBD5DDJFVA3RA4T3MGGDMTCNI.JPG\"  width=\"800\" height=\"581\"\/>The Utah state epidemiologist, Dr. Leisha Nolen, left, and Dorothy Adams of Salt Lake County Health, representing the Utah Association of Local Health Departments, speak with reporters about the measles update at the Multi-Agency State Office Building in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Nearly 70% of the cases have involved children and the vast majority of those who have been infected have not been vaccinated, they said, though there were seven breakthrough cases where someone had at least partial vaccination and still got sick.<\/p>\n<p>A miserable and maybe dangerous illness<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Measles cases can be mild, but they aren\u2019t always. So far in Utah, 12 people have required hospitalization in 2025, according to the dashboard. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Those at highest risk of complications include children younger than 5, adults over 20, pregnant women and people with compromised immune systems.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/measles\/signs-symptoms\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/measles\/signs-symptoms\/index.html\">CDC<\/a> said that complications range from common ills like ear infections, diarrhea and pneumonia \u2014 which is a common cause of deaths that can occur \u2014 to brain inflammation that can lead to permanent damage and a rare but fatal brain disease called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis that shows up years after someone apparently recovered from measles. Pregnant women can miscarry or deliver too soon or have low-birthweight babies. And complications for those with compromised immune systems, young children and adults over age 20 can include blindness and death.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Measles has a timeline of sorts. Typically people have a high fever, cough, runny nose and red watery eyes for a few days, then they develop little white spots inside their mouth two or three days after that. Between three and five days, usually, after symptoms begin, the familiar rash pops up, usually on the face at the hairline before moving down and covering the body. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.35;background-color:#F3F1F0;cursor:pointer\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/OOTJY5HBTFAA7NWDHEA5V62NKM.JPG\"  width=\"800\" height=\"592\"\/>Jody deJonge, R.N., holds a multi-dose vial of the measles, mumps and rubella virus vaccination at the Salt Lake Public Health Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, July 9, 2025. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News Reducing risk of spread<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Earlier Thursday during a national briefing on vaccine schedules hosted by the National Press Foundation, Dr. Mona Amin, a board-certified pediatrician who founded <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-pedsdoctalk-podcast-child-health-development\/id1501057527\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PedsDocTalk<\/a>, said the risk of the illness itself is not worth taking, given how well tolerated the vaccine is.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">While vaccines were hailed as the best way to prevent the spread of measles \u2014 Nolen called it 95% effective and said it has a decades-long history of being safe with mild side effects \u2014 the briefing was also about other ways to stop the spread.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Call ahead if you think you\u2019re sick or were exposed was advice from both Adams and Nolen, who said that showing up in a doctor\u2019s office and waiting increases the likelihood that others in the waiting room could become infected. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">That allows health care providers to take precautions to protect other patients.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The need to protect babies came up several times in the briefing, because babies don\u2019t usually qualify for that vaccine until they\u2019re at least a year old, though with so many cases around, Nolen said there\u2019s an option to get a baby vaccinated for measles at 6 months. In normal times, with little spread, she said that\u2019s not usually recommended, but she called it \u201creasonable\u201d given the surge in cases. Those babies would also get a dose at the regular time, so it\u2019s an extra dose.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Others who are not vaccinated but are exposed can also get a measles vaccination and if it\u2019s done within days, it can offer some protection and reduce the risk of serious illness, per Nolen. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Adams talked about contact tracing as a tool to stop the spread of measles, noting that the investigations are done to prevent spread. When a case is confirmed, health departments reach out to learn where the person had been with the goal of warning those who might have been exposed to watch for symptoms.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.41;background-color:#F3F1F0;cursor:pointer\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/EOKCBV3RDZFUHM2RXNACJU63XM.JPG\"  width=\"800\" height=\"569\"\/>Dorothy Adams of Salt Lake County Health, representing the Utah Association of Local Health Departments, speaks with reporters about the measles update at the Multi-Agency State Office Building in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">She acknowledged that people might be suspicious to receive a phone call from a stranger asking health questions, and encouraged anyone who isn\u2019t sure to call their local health department and verify that the person who called them works there. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">She asked that people do that instead of letting worry prevent them from answering questions that could reduce spread.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Because many people don\u2019t suspect measles until they have the signature rash, there\u2019s not a big window to offer symptom-reducing treatment. So prevention is key, said Adams. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Utah&#8217;s measles cases surged to at least 115, the highest in over 30 years. Contact tracing is crucial&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":441837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[210,1681,1680,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-441836","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-news-division","10":"tag-news-feed-local","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115705287522147087","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}