The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today issued a health alert to clinicians about a confirmed measles case in an individual who attended a religious gathering in Kentucky involving about 20,000 people, including participants from other US states and other countries.
The patient was at the event at Asbury College on Feb 17 and 18 while he or she was infectious, and the CDC said an undetermined number of people may have been exposed. The individual diagnosed as having measles had a history of recent international travel and was unvaccinated.
Measles is highly contagious, with an incubation period of about 10 days with rash onset occurring at about 14 days.
The CDC warned that measles vaccination rates have declined during the COVID-19 pandemic and that measles outbreaks are occurring in all world regions, with large outbreaks involving 20 or more cases reported in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Cases in the United States jumped from 49 cases in 2021 to 121 cases in 2022, all in children who weren't fully vaccinated. The numbers include outbreaks in Minnesota and Ohio.
The CDC urged clinicians to consider measles in patients with compatible symptoms in people who attended the event in Kentucky during the exposure dates, as well as in their contacts and those who recently traveled abroad. It also encouraged health providers to offer to the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine to people who aren't fully vaccinated.