SALT LAKE CITY — Health officials believe they have detected the first case of measles in Salt Lake County, but they have so far been unable to verify it because the patient is not cooperating.
The Salt Lake County Health Department said they were informed Monday of the "probable" case by a health care provider who noticed specific measles symptoms in the patient. They tried
“The patient has declined to be tested, or to fully participate in our disease investigation, so we will not be able to technically confirm the illness or properly do contact tracing to warn anyone with whom the patient may have had contact,” said Dorothy Adams, the executive director of the health department. “But based on the specific symptoms reported by the healthcare provider and the limited conversation our investigators have had with the patient, this is very likely a case of measles in someone living in Salt Lake County.”
The health department now asks residents to speak to public health workers if they try to contact you, and to "provide the information they’re seeking so they can properly investigate the situation and hopefully prevent further illness in our community." They say the information during such conversations is not shared with any other government agencies, but simply used to track down the source of the infection and prevent further spread. If anyone is unsure whether someone contacting them is legitimate, SLCoHD said they can ask them to send an email from their official ".gov" email address, or they can call the department at 385-468-4100 to verify by transferring them to the public health worker in question.
"Measles is one of the most contagious viruses known. It is so easily spread that people who are not immune have a 90% chance of getting the disease if they are near an infected person," the health department's announcement read. "Someone with measles can spread it to others even before they know they are ill, and the virus can linger in the air for up to two hours after an infected person has left the area."
SLCoHD officials remind the public that the best defense against measles is vaccination. They gave the following 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.
Measles symptoms include: Fever, cough, runny nose, red or watery eyes, tiny white spots inside the mouth, and a rash that usually starts as "flat, red spots at the hairline or on the face" before spreading down the body, the department said. They added that about one out of five unvaccinated measles patients end up hospitalized, and young children, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems are more susceptible to serious problems.
There have been 59 confirmed cases of measles in Utah this year, with the vast majority coming from Washington County. In the five previous years, only one case in 2023 was detected.
