Potential Measles Exposure at Highland High School
SALT LAKE CITY — Students at Highland High School may have been exposed to measles for more than a week, as an infected student continued to attend classes.
The Salt Lake County Health Department reported that the student was at school while infectious on February 6 and throughout the following week from February 9 to February 13.
Notifications were issued to parents of students who may have come in contact with this infectious student, as well as to all students lacking a vaccination record.
The health department advised unvaccinated students to be vigilant for symptoms associated with measles. They emphasized that there is a 90% risk of infection for unvaccinated individuals who have been in the same area as the infectious student or those who were present in a place they occupied within two hours.
This recent high school exposure follows the report from Tooele County about its first measles case involving a Stansbury High School student who was exposed during a multidistrict school event in a different county. That student was at school prior to displaying symptoms but was infectious on February 9 and 10.
On Tuesday, the Utah Department of Health and Human Services shared that the state had recorded a total of 300 confirmed measles cases during the current outbreak, with 58 of those identified in the past three weeks.
Measles symptoms typically include fever, cough, runny nose, red or watery eyes, and a rash that usually starts at the hairline and spreads downwards.
The Utah Department of Health and Human Services urges everyone to get vaccinated against measles, generally requiring two doses of the MMR vaccine. Vaccinated individuals have a 97% chance of being well protected; however, about 3% of those exposed may still contract the illness, albeit with less severe symptoms and reduced likelihood of transmission compared to unvaccinated individuals.
Out of the 300 cases in this ongoing outbreak, the health department noted that 255 involved unvaccinated individuals, 23 were vaccinated, and the vaccination status of the rest remains unknown. Alarmingly, one in every twelve cases in Utah has resulted in hospitalization.
Additionally, the Salt Lake County, Utah County, and Southwest Utah health districts indicated the presence of measles in recent wastewater samples collected on February 10.
