INDIANAPOLIS — Measles is a disease many health professionals thought we had kicked but with an outbreak in Texas that has killed one unvaccinated child, health officials are concerned about the possible spread.
WRTV's Rachael Wilkerson spoke to a local doctor about how you can check to see if you're immune.
"The average person who has measles, it will affect 18 people, so in a group of people that aren't vaccinated, this is going to spread like wildfire, much more so than we saw in the COVID pandemic," said Dr. Shannon Dillon.
Dr. Dillon, who works with Riley Children's Health, said measles is highly contagious and will stay airborne for two hours.
So far this year, Kentucky, New Jersey, Texas and New Mexico have reported cases.
"At least 124 cases are associated with the outbreak in Texas and New Mexico at this point, and that's already half as many cases as we saw of measles in the U.S. in all of 2024," said Dr. Dillon.
Dr. Dillon said the current vaccine for most kids is the MMR vaccine, Measles Mumps and Rubella.
"In most kids, we do a dose at age one and a dose at age four," she said.
But there has been a decline in vaccinations across the board, reducing herd immunity.
Dr. Dillon strongly recommends vaccinating children and feels adults should check their own records.
She said you should consider a booster or vaccine against measles if:
- You don't know when or if you've had the shot
- You were vaccinated before 1968, because back then the vaccine was less effective
- Even if you were vaccinated before 1989 when only one dose of the current vaccine was required
"We think that people born before 1957 largely have what we call natural immunity, and don't need to worry about getting boosted because measles infection generally provides lifelong immunity after you've had it," said Dr. Dillon.
You can even ask your doctor for a blood test to see if you have immunity against measles.
