Measles outbreaks in two Minnesota counties reach 25 cases
Minnesota has 25 measles cases in two unrelated outbreaks since mid-September, the state health department said Thursday. Todd County has 19 cases and Fillmore County has six, and everyone who got sick was unvaccinated. State figures show 42 cases in Minnesota so far this year.
Minnesota has confirmed 25 measles cases since mid-September in two unrelated outbreaks, the Minnesota Department of Health said Thursday, MPR News and CBS station WCCO reported. Nineteen of the cases are in Todd County in central Minnesota and six are in Fillmore County in the southeast.
The health department's case page, updated Oct. 15, shows 42 measles cases in Minnesota so far this year, 23 of them reported in the past 21 days. Every person who got sick was unvaccinated, the median age is about 7, and no one has been hospitalized, MPR News reported. Some people have needed emergency room care, MPR News said.
Beth Parilla, who leads the department's vaccine-preventable diseases section, told WCCO that each outbreak began when someone caught measles while traveling elsewhere in the country and brought it home to a community with low vaccination rates. "With a disease like this, we will do our best, but it is really hard to contain measles," she said.
Todd County has the lowest vaccination rate in the state for children born in 2023, MPR News reported. The county's MMR vaccine rate for children fell from 74.6% for those born in 2021 to 61.6% for those born in 2023, Todd County's health director, Jackie Och, told WCCO. Parilla said rates need to be close to 100% to stop the virus from spreading.
"There are pockets of unvaccinated or under-vaccinated people across Minnesota, and anyone who isn't vaccinated against measles is at risk," the health department said in a release, according to MPR News.
The U.S. declared measles eliminated in 2000, but it has come back as vaccination rates have dropped, Jayne Griffith, a senior epidemiologist with the department, told MPR News. The Minnesota outbreaks are not linked to those in neighboring Wisconsin, where cases rose from 166 to 267 in the past month, MPR News said. More than 4,000 cases have been recorded in the U.S. this year, WCCO reported.
What we know: Minnesota has 25 outbreak cases in Todd and Fillmore counties and 42 cases this year, all in unvaccinated people.
What we don't: How many more cases will turn up as health workers trace contacts in the two counties.
Where outlets agree MPR News and WCCO both report 25 measles cases in Todd and Fillmore counties since mid-September, all in unvaccinated people.
Where they differ The outlets cited here report the same key facts so far.