Utah has the highest per-capita reported measles case rate of any state in the nation, and the second-highest total number of cases. Throughout the year, UPR has reported on those rising cases — and now, we check-in on the outbreak.
“Well, happily, Utah is in a better place than we were back in January. We're only having a few people diagnosed with measles each week, and that's been true for about two months now," said Dr. Leisha Nolen, the Utah State Epidemiologist. She said the decline in measles cases is to be expected with warmer weather, but she still takes issue with even a single case.
“We don't want to have any measles in our state," she said. "We shouldn't have measles in our state.”
Measles was declared eliminated from the United States in 2000, but it wasn’t fully eradicated. In fact, the only human disease declared to be globally eradicated is smallpox.
Measles not being eradicated from the U.S., now or then, can be frustrating for medical professionals.
“To have anyone getting diagnosed with measles means we are not where we want to be,” Nolan said.
Prior to the 1960s, the measles virus was responsible for around 500,000 recorded cases annually in the United States. In its latest edition of "The Pink Book" in 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated the actual number of infections was closer to three to four million a year.
The infection can be severe.
“It's not just the cold, it's not even just a mild flu, it can be really significantly terrible," Nolan said. "We hear from families about how their kids will have fevers up to 107. That's not 100.7, that's 107. That's really remarkably high.”
Nolen said measles can lead to complications like pneumonia, swelling of the brain, and even immune amnesia, where the body loses some of its preexisting immune memory that helps fight infections. Even those who recover can be left more vulnerable to other infections.
Thankfully though, we do have a vaccine against measles.
“It's been used since the 1960s, and it's been shown to be really, really effective, and exceptionally safe,” Nolan said.
The first measles vaccine was licensed in 1963, and the combined measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine followed in 1971. By 1981, reported measles cases had fallen 80% from the previous year. From there, cases remained dramatically below pre-vaccine levels.
That is, until they began to rise again.
“Unfortunately, we do have pockets where less people are vaccinated, and those are the pockets that are most vulnerable to this infection,” Nolan said.
That vulnerability is especially relevant as students head back to class. Nolen said that last school year, measles spread through a number of Utah schools, particularly in rural areas. And for many of those infected, measles meant a trip to the hospital.
“When we look at our data, we can see that a third of the Utahns diagnosed with measles had to go to the emergency room,” she said.
The solution? According to Nolen, it’s vaccination.
“So, vaccination is your opportunity to really take control of your life. This is something that is a choice that you get to make, and I think families can really take advantage of this and decide to take control.”
The Utah Department of Health and Human Services has an online, weekly-updated count of measles cases in Utah, as well as additional resources.
