Measles is currently in 17 states with over 150 cases, some of which are in Iowa’s neighboring states of Illinois, Minnesota, South Dakota and Nebraska. According to the Centers for Disease Control, last year there was a record number of measles cases in the country with 644 cases.

Lynn Fisher with Washington County Public Health explains the best way to protect from contracting the illness is to have two doses of the MMR vaccine, which is 98 to 99 percent effective. Fisher says one in 1,000,000 doses results in a severe allergy, while one in 20 people who contract measles get pneumonia.

She says the airborne respiratory illness if very contagious, the first symptom is a high fever usually around 104 degrees, with a rash starting at the hair line and radiating down typically four days later. Due to the fact measles is an airborne illness, someone can walk into a room in which a person with measles was in hours before and contract measles.

For more information about measles click here.