Measles in Wisconsin: Health officials address cases, prevention

MILWAUKEE - Wisconsin has dodged measles for months, but now Oconto County, in northeastern Wisconsin, has nine cases.

The disease has already hit our neighboring states, and much of the country.

Measles is more contagious than COVID-19. It can also lead to hospitalization.

Now there's a new push from both the state and Milwaukee.

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What they're saying:

"We are optimistic that we know how to address these cases. Is it always 100%? No. Sometimes additional transmission can occur," said Ryan Westergaard of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS). "There’s been more measles than there have in quite a few years across the country. So while we weren’t surprised that we had our first cases this past week, we were prepared."

DHS says all nine patients were exposed to a common source while traveling out of state.

The state wouldn't say if the people were vaccinated or their ages. But, it says the risk to the community is low.

"If there is public exposure, for example, a person who is in their infectious period goes to a grocery store or is in church and we can’t identify all of the people who may have been exposed, we will do a public notification of a possible source of exposure. And we are not doing that. We have not identified any such potential exposures from these cases," added Westergaard.

Nationally this year, the CDC reports 1,333 confirmed cases.

Of them, 92% were either unvaccinated or the vaccine status was unknown.

About 13% of this year's patients nationwide were hospitalized, while three people died, according to CDC data.

"Measles is extremely contagious. It can linger in the air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves," said Michael Totoraitis, Milwaukee Commissioner of Health.

Both the state and city say they've been preparing for possible cases.

"We’ve taken a lot of steps to ensure we are ready. So, we have a full plan set up with communications, quarantine and exclusion guidelines, standing up clinics for vaccinations, and developing public health alerts, so everyone is up-to-date with what is going on," Totoraitis added. "Internally, we’ve ran a simulation, or what we call a tabletop exercise, where we’ve sceneriod essentially what happens here in the city if we have a case that is identified in the city."

"Here in the region, in Milwaukee County, health providers have been screening at a higher rate for measles cases. Every other day I get an alert that there’s a suspected measles case here in the city, but it’s out of an abundance of caution," he added.

The City of Milwaukee has ordered 800 more doses of the vaccine and is offering it for free at their health centers.

Hayat Pharmacy in Milwaukee says it can quickly get new doses if demand spikes.

"We have seen more requests for the vaccine, both among children and adults," said Hashim Zaibak, Hayat Pharmacy's founder. "We run the claim through their insurance. Most insurance companies will pay for it with a $0 copay, and they will just get it at no charge."

Measles stats

By the numbers:

It's the return of a virus, which the federal government officially declared was eliminated in 2000.

Cases still popped up. In 2019, there were more than 1,200 cases. In 2024, there were 285.

These graphs from the CDC show the yearly measles cases nationwide:

Wisconsin kindergartners have the third-lowest measles vaccination rate in the country, behind Idaho (79.6%) and Hawaii (84.3%).

CDC data shows 84.8% of Wisconsin kindergartners statewide received the MMR shots, that's for measles, mumps and rubella.

For Milwaukee, the rate is lower at 75%. Health leaders say they want to have it at 95%.

"It has decades of rigorous scientific research that have shown it and demonstrated it to be very, very effective in protecting against the spread of measles," said Dr. Mike Gutzeit, MD of Children's Wisconsin.

Learn more about measles and vaccinations on the DHS website.

Measles information

What to know:

How measles is transmitted, according to the Milwaukee Health Department

• Close contact with an infected person
• Touching contaminated surfaces (doorknobs, handrails, etc.)
• Respiratory droplets from coughing or sneezing
• Virus can linger in the air up to 2 hours and spread through shared HVAC systems

Symptoms (typically appear 7–14 days after exposure)

• High fever (often >104°F)
• Runny nose
• Cough
• Red, watery eyes
• Telltale rash beginning on the head and spreading downwards 3–5 days after initial symptoms

Health risks

• Dangerous for young children, pregnant individuals, and those with weakened immune systems
• Exposed individuals may need to quarantine for up to three weeks

Check your vaccine record

• Wisconsin Immunization Registry