2 new measles cases confirmed in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah public officials confirmed two new cases of measles were reported as of Tuesday.

The Utah Department of Health and Human Services said the two patients were not vaccinated, nor were they linked to the measles case reported on Friday, according to the statement. The state’s epidemiologist Dr. Leisha Nolen said the two patients were both adults. 

 

Health officials said the two adults are from different parts of Utah, one of them being from Utah County. The original case reported was also in Utah County, but the new cases were not connected.

Nolan said only one of the cases was confirmed to have contracted the illness from within the state. 

“(For) one of these individuals, we don’t have any travel or other exposure, so they did get it in Utah,” she said. “The other two, it’s still a little unclear, they might have actually gotten it in another place, but we do believe there is transmission going on in Utah.

Health officials said they were still working to discover where the possible exposure may have occurred.

Public information officer with the health department, Nicholas Rupp, said the process of tracing the exposure is called “contact tracing.”

“If we have a case in Salt Lake County, we need to do contact tracing quite far, depending on what the individual did in the days leading up to them showing symptoms,” he said. “So measles is infectious for days before the rash appears and then four days after the rash appears. So we have a total of nine days we need to cover.” 

The process of contract tracing from the standpoint of health officials is difficult, and requires them to meet with the patient to talk with them about everywhere they may have been. Health officials use tools to help the patient remember every place they went, like credit card statements or their calendar. 

For some of the locations the person may have gone while carrying the illness, announcements will go out to anyone who would have been in the area during that time. 

While contact tracing is very effective, Rupp said, given the decades of practice the health department has had with it, there is only one way to prevent the spread of exposure: 

“You need to stay home so you don’t further spread that illness,” he said. “What really helps us with contact tracing though, particularly for a vaccine preventable disease is people being vaccinated.

Luckily, Rupp said, the illness had not yet spread to Salt Lake County — a highly populated region in the state — as of Tuesday, and he hoped to keep it that way.

“The public can help us a lot by making sure they’re vaccinated,” Rupp said. “And if you’re not feeling well, don’t go out in public.”

For updates on measles in Utah or to learn more about the disease, visit the Utah Department of Health and Human Services website.

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This is a breaking news story. It may be updated.