With Cases of Measles and Whooping Cough in Wisconsin, Health Officials Say Vaccinations are Key

Wednesday, May 1st, 2024 -- 1:01 PM

(Hope Kirwan, Wisconsin Public Radio) The state’s top disease official says reports of public exposure to two infectious diseases in Wisconsin last week show new emphasis is needed on the importance of vaccines.

According to Hope Kirwan with Wisconsin Public Radio, the state Department of Health Services confirmed on Friday that a Dane County resident has measles, a highly contagious and potentially deadly disease.

State officials released a list of locations and times between April 21 and April 22 when people in Dane and Rock counties may have been exposed to the measles virus.

The same week, officials in Brown County reported the community was seeing a rising number of cases of whooping cough, an infectious disease that can be fatal for infants.

Dr. Ryan Westergaard, DHS’ chief medical officer and state epidemiologist, said the state does not have precise numbers for how many people were exposed to measles.

“We get to the point where something as highly contagious as measles, where just being in the same room as someone can constitute an exposure, we don’t have the ability to know,” he said.

Westergaard said anyone who was at the identified locations should make sure they know whether they’ve been vaccinated against measles. If they haven’t received the two-shot series or had measles in the past, he said they may need to receive a post-exposure medication and should monitor themselves closely for symptoms.

Measles is a respiratory virus that mainly impacts the lungs, but can also affect the central nervous system and brain. It is highly contagious, but vaccination is effective at preventing the disease.

Dr. Jim Conway, pediatric infectious disease physician at UW Health, said children and the elderly are often prioritized for getting the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine. But he said there is also a group of adults who are not protected from the virus.

“We didn’t start routinely giving the MMR vaccine until 1983, and only in 1989 did we realize that people actually needed a second dose,” Conway said. “There’s a fair number of people that grew up earlier than those years, but late enough that they may not have actually had measles themselves.”

Conway said people who are infected with the virus can be contagious for several days prior to showing symptoms, which can contribute to further spread. Measles was officially eliminated from the United States in 2000.

But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned this month that a spike in measles outbreaks posed a “renewed threat” to eradication of the disease. There have been at least 128 cases of measles in the U.S. in 2024, according to the CDC.

By comparison, the U.S. had 58 measles cases in all of 2023 and 121 total cases in 2022. Now that Wisconsin has a confirmed case, Westergaard said there is a chance the virus will spread. But he said state officials are optimistic public health efforts will contain it, especially after being successful in the past.

Westergaard said these instances of infectious disease are a reminder that renewed emphasis on vaccinations is needed. He said the state has seen a slight decline in vaccination rates over the last decade, which was made worse by health care disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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