Measles count in Minnesota surges to highest in decades

The measles virus has continued to spread in Todd County because of a lack of widespread vaccination, bringing the state’s tally of confirmed cases to the highest level since 1990. In the past week, 58 confirmed infections in the county helped raise Minnesota’s total this year to 139. The update, provided Thursday by the Minnesota Department of Health, also included one case in a different location: Scott County, where a person was infected during travel outside the country. All the latest infections involved unvaccinated individuals, said Jayne Griffith, a senior epidemiologist in the Minnesota Department of Health’s infectious disease division. “There is a lot of measles out there,” she said, “and being unvaccinated is a big risk.” Advertisement Wisconsin, meanwhile, reported its first measles death since 1990. The victim was an infant. The state to the east has reported 431 measles cases so far this year, mostly in the southwestern region that includes some border counties with Minnesota. “My heart is broken for the family,” said Kirsten Johnson, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, in a written statement. “Any death of a child is a tragedy and even more so when it is related to a vaccine-preventable disease.” Measles is caused by exposure to a highly infectious virus, which can linger in droplets in the air long after they have been spread by infected individuals who cough, sneeze or speak. The illness involves a characteristic head-to-toe rash along with fever and breathing problems. About one in 10 cases requires hospitalization, though Minnesota so far has only reported three such severe cases.