Utah has reported 27 cases so far; Arizona has 42 confirmed cases, including one child who has been hospitalized<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By I. Edwards HealthDay Reporter<\/b>
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THURSDAY, Sept. 25, 2025 (HealthDay News) \u2014 One of the largest measles outbreaks in decades is spreading along the Arizona-Utah border, with dozens of confirmed cases among unvaccinated children.<\/p>\n
Southwest Utah has reported 27 cases so far, nearly all in unvaccinated school-age children, local health officials said. Neighboring Mohave County, Arizona, has 42 confirmed cases, including one child who has been hospitalized.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the highest number of cases we have seen since the 1990s,” the Arizona Department of Health Services said.<\/p>\n
Experts said the outbreak owes to low vaccination rates.<\/p>\n
In Washington County, Utah, about 79% of kindergartners are protected against measles \u2014 far below the 95% level needed for herd immunity.<\/p>\n
At one school in Mohave County, 7.7% of kindergartners were vaccinated last school year, NBC News <\/em>reported.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve worked for this health department for about 18 years, and we\u2019ve never seen a case of measles that I know of up until this point,\u201d David Heaton<\/a>, a spokesman for the Southwest Utah Public Health Department, told NBC News.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe are just at that low rate of (vaccine) uptake that does leave us open for this kind of an outbreak,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Measles is one of the world\u2019s most contagious viruses. Symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose and rash, and the infection can lead to serious complications such as pneumonia<\/a>, brain swelling and even death, the Mayo Clinic<\/a> says.<\/p>\n And cases are climbing. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a> (CDC) has logged 1,514 cases and 40 outbreaks so far in 2025, the most in more than 30 years.<\/p>\n In all of last year, 16 outbreaks were reported.<\/p>\n “This is exactly what you expect to see when you have a highly infectious vaccine-preventable disease drop into a community with low vaccination rates, almost inevitable,” Dr. Bob England<\/a>, a former Arizona public health official, told NBC News.<\/em><\/p>\n Federal health leaders are urging families to get vaccinated.<\/p>\n “I encourage parents to vaccinate their children. Vaccines not only protect individual children from measles but also contribute to community immunity,” Jim O\u2019Neil<\/a>, acting CDC director, said.<\/p>\n More information<\/strong><\/p>\n The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on the current measles situation<\/a>.<\/p>\n