Measles outbreak prompts health warning

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The number of U.S. measles cases in the first three months of 2024 has already equaled all of the cases for 2023.

This is sparking a health alert from local, state, and federal health agencies.

Health officials in the Dayton area are warning of exposure to the disease for those who visited Round One Bowling at the Mall at Fairfield Common on March 16.

While the warning is coming from Greene County, local health officials said it should serve as a warning for all to get vaccinated against the virus.

Columbus Public Health Commissioner Dr. Mysheika Roberts said the uptick is, in part, due to international travel, but mainly due to a lack of vaccinations.

She said measles symptoms start with a cough, runny nose, and fever before progressing into a rash of tiny red spots. Roberts advises that everyone have an updated MMR vaccine to prevent the disease.

“I think from my perspective, from this alert that the CDC issued, is really to remind health care providers as well as parents eligible for the MMR vaccine that we are seeing an alarming number of measles cases compared to last year and the year prior,” she said.

Roberts said that most of the cases, like an outbreak in the region in 2022, were unvaccinated and children. She said many were eligible for the vaccine, meaning they were one year old and could have received at least one shot.