Why One Measles Case Can Still Matter

Measles is one of the most contagious infections we know.

That is why a single case can trigger a surprisingly large public-health response.

Eliminated does not mean extinct

Endemic measles transmission was eliminated in the United States in 2000. That means continuous local transmission was stopped.

It does not mean measles disappeared from the world.

Travelers can still bring the virus into the United States, including Hawaii.

Why immunity gaps matter

When an imported case reaches a community where nearly everyone is immune, the virus has difficulty spreading.

When it reaches a cluster of people who are susceptible, the same introduction can become an outbreak.

Why measles creates so many exposure notices

Measles can spread through the air and remain infectious in a space after an infected person has left.

Public-health teams therefore have to identify locations, time windows, vaccination histories, and people at higher risk quickly.

The modern version of an old Hawaii story

Hawaii's first devastating measles epidemics belong to the nineteenth century. The modern challenge is different: preventing an imported case from finding enough susceptible people to start the process again.

The disease is old. The prevention job is ongoing.

— Nora Phillips, DNP, APRN Central Health | Wahiawa, Hawaii

Sources

CDC — Measles History. https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/history.html

CDC — Measles. https://www.cdc.gov/measles/