Measles Case Confirmed In Marathon County Amid Statewide Surge

A skin rash is observed on a patient’s abdomen 3-days after the onset of a measles infection. The image was captured at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in 1958. Photo by Heinz F. Eichenwald, MD /CDC Public Health Image Library.

A measles case was reported in Marathon County on Tuesday, according to state health officials.

The Marathon County resident was reportedly exposed during out of state travel. This case is not related to the ongoing measles outbreak in southwest Wisconsin.

State officials have confirmed 164 measles cases in Wisconsin this year — all but one of those people have been unvaccinated. The majority of those infected have been children.

According to state data, five people have been hospitalized in the ongoing outbreak.

The vast majority of the measles cases in Wisconsin this year have been concentrated in Iowa, Lafayette and Grant counties in the southwest corner of the state. That outbreak began in late July.

Public health officials are now working to identify and notify people who may have been exposed to the virus in Marathon County. No public exposure locations have been identified in connection with that case.

Measles is a highly contagious disease that can be spread from person to person through the air and can stay in the air for two hours after a sick person coughs or sneezes.

The virus can cause serious health complications, including pneumonia, brain damage, and deafness, and can sometimes be deadly.

Health officials stress that getting two doses of the measles vaccine is the best protection against contracting the virus. The vaccine is considered 97 percent effective against the disease.

Measles case reported in Marathon County was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.