SALT LAKE CITY — The first lab-confirmed case of measles in Salt Lake County during the current national outbreak has been identified, health officials announced Friday.
According to the Salt Lake County Health Department, the infected adult male was unvaccinated, and officials are concerned because the source of the man's infection is not known.
“They have not knowingly had contact with anyone who had measles, which means their infection is the result of transmission somewhere out in the community," said the department's executive director, Dorothy Adams.
County epidemiologists are attempting to notify people who may have been exposed to the patient, who is known to have visited a public location while infected. Anyone who was at the Taylorsville InstaCare location at 3845 West 4700 South on November 7 between 3 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. may have been exposed.
Even if those at the InstaCare location did not have direct contact with the infected patient, they remain at risk because measles can linger in the air for up to 2 hours.
Anyone who was at the Taylorsville location during the timeframe shared by the health department is being urged to confirm their measles immunity status.
As of Friday morning, 74 measles infections have been confirmed across the state of Utah.
Measles vaccine recommendations:
- Children should receive two doses of measles vaccine: one dose at 12 to 15 months of age and another at 4 to 6 years.
- Adults born before 1957 generally do not need to be vaccinated because they are likely already immune to measles due to widespread infection and illness before the measles vaccine became available in 1963.
- Adults who were vaccinated before 1968 should have a second dose because the vaccine used from 1963–1967 was less effective than the current vaccine, which became available in 1968.
- Adults who were vaccinated in 1968 or later are considered fully protected whether they have one or two doses, though certain higher risk groups (college students, healthcare workers, international travelers) should have two doses.
