Amid national outbreaks, a confirmed measles case hasn’t yet hit Utah — but as nearby states report cases, the highly contagious virus could be closing in.
Meanwhile, Utah’s childhood vaccination rates have been on a steady decline for years.
Local and state public health officials say it’s likely a matter of time before the Beehive State gets its first measles case, and they’re bracing for if or when it happens.
“We’re always looking at cases in other states,” Rich Lakin, immunization program manager at the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, told Utah News Dispatch this week. “We’ve been ready for a long time, but so far so good. We haven’t had any cases here in Utah.”
But to be prepared, Lakin said state public health officials are working with local health departments, clinics, and physicians to ensure they know how to quickly identify a measles case and properly handle it when someone comes in for treatment.
Nic Rupp, spokesperson for the Salt Lake County Health Department, said county health officials “monitor the status nationwide every day.”
“We will likely see a case locally as infections get closer geographically and as people travel more this summer,” Rupp said.
In the meantime, he said the Salt Lake County Health Department is encouraging populations with low rates for the MMR vaccine (which protects against measles, mumps and rubella) to get up to date on their shots as part of efforts to minimize the spread of the virus “when a case does show up here.”
The last reported measles infection in Utah was reported in March 2023, according to state health officials.
“A person who was not vaccinated traveled outside the U.S. and brought measles back to Utah,” the state’s website says. “We do not believe anyone else in Utah got measles from this person.”
Before that 2023 case, three people in Utah had measles in February 2017.
Read the full report at UtahNewsDispatch.com.
