Despite recent snows, the clock is ticking against the winter respite in Lake City, and the summer months will be upon us before we know it. With summer, of course, comes visitors from other Colorado towns and other states, and according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), measles has reared its head recently in many neighboring states (see map, page 2). Most notably, Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma are three nearby states that have been impacted, with one death occurring in Lea County, New Mexico, in early March.
Most people are vaccinated against measles with the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps and rubella) at a young age, but if your vaccination status is in question, locate your immunization records or ask your health care professional. Most children receive their first MMR vaccine at one year old and their second at four years of age. In 1978, CDC set a goal to eliminate measles from the United States by 1982. Although this goal was not met, widespread use of measles vaccine drastically reduced the disease rates. By 1981, the number of reported measles cases was 80 percent less compared with the previous year. However, a 1989 measles outbreak among vaccinated school-aged children prompted the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) to recommend a second dose of MMR vaccine for all children.
Following widespread implementation of this recommendation and improvements in first-dose MMR vaccine coverage, reported measles cases declined even more.
Measles was declared eliminated from the United States in 2000. This meant the absence of the continuous spread of disease was greater than 12 months. This was thanks to a highly effective vaccination program in the United States, as well as better measles control in the Americas region.
Measles has resurfaced in 2025 due to a combination of factors, including declining vaccination rates, increased global measles activity and the potential for unvaccinated individuals to travel and spread the disease.
According to Silver Thread Public Health nurse Shawna Shidler and the CDC, you are fully vaccinated if you know for certain that you have received two doses of MMR at some point in your life. While immunity from any vaccine will wear off after a time, the MMR vaccine protects against infection for life for nearly everyone and a booster shot is not recommended.
If you know you have only ever had one shot, the CDC does not recommend getting another, unless you are travelling to another country, if you are a health care worker, or if you live with someone who is immunocompromised. “One MMR shot is about 93% effective,” Shidler said.
For anyone vaccinated before 1968, Shidler says the vaccine was less effective around that time and a booster may be recommended, and to ask your health care provider.
Shidler said, “anyone born before 1957 is most likely protected from the virus, as there is a decent chance you’ve already had measles as a child and have antibodies to prevent future infections.”
If you do not know your vaccine status because you are unable to locate your immunization records, a booster is recommended. The other option is to have your health care provider take a blood sample to check for the antibodies to measles.
The measles virus is infectious from four days before the onset of the rash until four days after the rash appears. This means that an infected person can spread the virus to others for up to eight days.
The incubation period for measles (the time between exposure to the virus and the onset of symptoms) is typically 7-21 days. The rash usually appears 14 days after exposure.
During the infectious period, an infected person can spread the virus through respiratory droplets produced when they cough, sneeze, or talk.
The virus can also remain infectious on surfaces for up to two hours.
Measles signs and symptoms appear around 10 to 14 days after exposure to the virus. The rash appears as small, red, flat or slightly raised spots (macules or papules). It typically starts on the face and behind the ears, then spreads to the rest of the body. The spots may join together to form larger blotchy patches. The rash usually appears two to four days after the onset of other measles symptoms. It spreads from the head and neck down to the trunk, arms, and legs and lasts four to seven days.
Other symptoms include: fever, cough, runny nose
red, watery eyes and Koplik’s spots (small white spots inside the mouth).
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