Health officials warn of spike in measles cases

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Health officials across the country are warning of a rise in measles cases. While there have not been any confirmed cases in Kentucky, doctors say you should still be mindful of the symptoms.

The CDC says there have been 23 confirmed cases of measles in the U.S. between December 1 and January 23.

Doctors say while measles is pretty uncommon, it’s one of the most contagious diseases.

“I don’t think 23 is that much. The problem is that 23 could get magnified really quick,” said Lexington physician, Dr. Jeff Foxx.

Last year, there was an outbreak of measles cases across the country. One case was confirmed in Jessamine County. The State Department of Public Health said that person was unvaccinated against the virus.

“If you have a very contagious disease, you have people with low vaccination rates or no immunity. It can spread quickly. So to keep that from happening, again, we go back to we talked about flu vaccine. We talked about COVID vaccine. We’ve talked about RSV vaccine, we want to add measles right to that group,” said Dr. Foxx.

Dr. Jeff Foxx says measles is largely spread through respiratory secretions, when someone sneezes, talks, laughs, or coughs.

“You can wear a mask to wash your hands. All the things we’ve been doing still apply to measles now. The thing is, so if you think you have measles you gotta be careful because it’s, it is, really, probably more infectious than COVID,” said Dr. Foxx.

He says you should also watch for the symptoms.

“Runny nose, congestion, eye irritation, you feel bad, you have a fever. You may have a rash, starts generally on your face and spreads down and there can be a little bit of rash or koplik spots inside your mouth,” said Dr. Foxx.

Of the 23 confirmed cases, the CDC says seven are connected to international travelers. There have been two outbreaks with more than fie cases each. Most of the cases were among children and adolescents who have not received the vaccine or are not yet age-eligible for it.