Twenty-three states have reported a total of 764 cases of measles. Two of these are in Iowa. The Centers for Disease Control says this is the greatest number of cases reported in the U.S. since 1994 and since measles was declared eliminated in 2000. Washington County Public Health Administrator Danielle Pettit-Majewski says the concern with measles is how highly contagious it is, “You and I are sitting in this room, let’s say I have measles and in an hour or in two hours after I leave you bring in a few other people to interview. Those people if they are not immune to measles, if they haven’t been vaccinated or their immune compromised, because maybe they’re going through cancer treatment they are susceptible to getting measles even though I’ve left two hours prior. And the thing is too, you don’t always know because you are contagious four days before you start to see the symptoms and four days after.”

She says the best way to protect yourself and loved ones is to get vaccinated. Also, this helps build a herd immunity, which helps protect those who are too young or who are immunocompromised like those undergoing cancer treatments. The first measles vaccine is given between 12 and 15 months of age. Measles can lead to pneumonia, brain damage, deafness, and death.

Not even a full five months into the year, and the number of measles cases is two short of the total number of cases in 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015 put together.