- Utah's measles outbreak, infecting over 700, shows signs of slowing down with only six cases in the last three weeks.
- Utah's state epidemiologist said the state is in a good place, but not a perfect case encouraging more vaccinations.
- Utah has seen an increased vaccination rate which may have helped reduce cases, along with school ending and warmer weather.
SALT LAKE CITY — A statewide measles outbreak that infected over 700 Utahns the past year seems to be coming to an end, with just six new infections reported in the last three weeks.
The Utah Department of Health and Human Services called it "great news" that "the number of new people being infected with measles each week has been much lower than at the peak in March of this year," in a social media post on Wednesday.
Cases peaked in March, with a high of 58 in one week, but since early May, there have not been more than 10 new cases in a week. The measles outbreak hit hardest in southwestern Utah, but spread to each local health department in Utah.
The health department still encouraged Utahns not to let their guard down, saying the best protection for measles is the MMR vaccine, which is 97% effective with two doses. The health department said most people who have gotten sick with measles — 86% — were not vaccinated.
Utah's measles outbreak began in June of 2025 and 707 people were diagnosed with measles since then, a majority of whom were school-aged children.
"I think we're in a good place right now, but we're not in the perfect place," said State Epidemiologist Leisha Nolen. "What we really want is no measles. This is something certainly people can take control of; they have the option to protect themselves."
She said the current decrease in cases is due to multiple factors, including people getting vaccinations or developing natural immunity, school is out and it is summertime when measles is historically less likely to spread.
"School certainly brings people together, we know it was a good way to spread the infection around and so having kids not in those closed classrooms, close to each other all day, has helped," she said.
The health department is hopeful that this is the end of the outbreak, according to Nolen, while preparing for the possibility that a few cases when school starts could lead to increased case counts. This preparation includes providing information about vaccinations and making it as easy as possible to get vaccinated.
The measles vaccine can provide protection against measles even for days after a person has been exposed to measles.
"We encourage people to get the vaccine now, it will protect them very fast and certainly the best is they get protected before school starts," Nolen said.
She said 27,000 more Utahns got vaccinated this year than the previous year, so more people are protected, but that is not enough to cover the entire population.
Currently, wastewater analysis does show that there are likely others who have measles cases that have not been identified or reported to the health department — something Nolen said has been true throughout the outbreak, showing some people are hesitant to come forward — but it does look like there is less spread when looking at the wastewater statistics.
During the entire outbreak, 56 Utahns were hospitalized with measles, but none have died. The Utah Department of Health and Human Services said people were often hospitalized due to dehydration from severe nausea and vomiting or because they had trouble breathing. A few people were hospitalized from appendicitis or liver inflammation, which can be caused by measles.
Nolen also said that about one-third of people with measles went to the emergency room, but most did not need to be hospitalized.
Measles can be a severe disease, but Nolen said it also erases the immune system's memory, meaning that the next time many of these individuals contract the flu or a cold, it may be harder on them than it otherwise would be.
"We are worried that we're going to see people who are sicker than usual, (more) than we would expect, because of this," she said.
According to the state epidemiologist, about one in every 10,000 cases can lead to a delayed, dangerous brain inflammation that is deadly and has no cure, which she said Utah may see in about 10 years because of this outbreak.
Currently, the Utah Department of Health and Human Services does not have any exposure location sites; it is asking people to watch for symptoms.
