Prime Highlights:
Ohio Department of Health experienced a 10-case measles outbreak in Ashtabula County.
Health officials are calling on parents to get kids vaccinated so that fewer will become infected with the highly contagious illness.
Key Facts:
Ninety percent of the 10 cases of measles trace back to an Ohioan who was not vaccinated, first case of 2025 measles, Ohio.
One of the cases in Knox County was a guest who spread measles to people in Knox and neighboring counties.
Key Background:
Ohio Department of Health (ODH) had an Ashtabula County outbreak of 10 measles cases. Nine of the cases have a primary contact with an unvaccinated adult male, Ohio’s first case in 2025. The second case was a travel case in Knox County and led to exposure to persons in more than one county. All the cases were unvaccinated.
ODH Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff emphasized the danger of measles and said that while it’s a serious, and even life-threatening, illness, it is highly preventable through the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. He didn’t want parents to leave their child open to complications by not vaccinating them.
Ashtabula County public health officials initiated vaccination centers providing adults and children MMR, DTaP, polio, and flu immunizations. The move seeks to avert outbreaks of diseases as well as promote public health safety.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) measles case outbreak is an outbreak of three or more cases. Up to March of 2025, the country as a whole had 378 total measles cases, large outbreaks in Texas and New Mexico. There were 90 measles cases in 2022, primarily central Ohio, but fewer years since then, one in 2023 and seven in 2024.
Measles is an extremely contagious virus and is transmitted by respiratory secretion airborne droplets, and the infective time in the air is two hours. Rash, fever, nasal discharge, cough, and red watery eyes are manifestations and symptoms. Complications like pneumonia and meningitis, normally fatal conditions, develop in infants, adults above 20 years, pregnancy, and in immunocompromised host.
The outbreak is closely monitored by health authorities and they are in regular communication with health authorities at the local level in a bid to trace exposures and encourage vaccination in a bid to prevent additional cases.
