The Oregon Health Authority announced Tuesday that the first confirmed measles case has been found in Oregon. KLCC’s Rachael McDonald spoke with Lane County Senior Public Health Officer Dr. Patrick Leudtke to learn more.
Dr. Luedtke: This case, the Multnomah County case, is what we have been seeing in small numbers for many years in North America, where somebody traveled overseas [and] they were not protected because they were not prior vaccinated with the measles vaccine.
They got exposed somewhere overseas and then they brought it back here. That appears to be the case in Multnomah County.
What we've seen this year in 2025 is something different, where it's spreading within our communities in the United States, thankfully not Oregon until [Tuesday], but people didn't travel overseas.
There were enough unprotected people, and the disease was present locally that it started to spread.
McDonald: So are you concerned that that's what will happen here? Or is it too soon to know?
Luedtke: Well, I mean, the key point from this case is, is really this: Measles is now in Oregon, and if you're not vaccinated, you're susceptible. That's really the key point. Now, we're doing the tracking. This person flew overseas, came back on a plane through Chicago, and then a Chicago plane to Portland.
We're doing the assessments to see if we have any Lane County, or our surrounding county, people on that plane. And, that's what public health does, all these things we do behind the scenes that, you know, your listeners never see us do, but we're doing it.
And, hopefully we won't have anybody on the plane, but you know, planes—especially ones that go overseas—are big. We may end up with someone who was exposed.
McDonald: If a person is vaccinated, can we just say, ‘OK, we're fine’, or is there any reason to be concerned if one is vaccinated against measles?
Luedtke: So, this is a wonderful opportunity for me to talk about the vaccine. This is probably our best routine childhood vaccine.
Two doses– you're immune. 97% of people who get two doses get immunity, and you're probably immune for life. Now, are vaccines perfect? No, I said two doses is 97%, so 3% of people, despite getting two doses, don't get immunity. So, if someone out there has received their measles vaccination, and they get exposed, and then they get symptoms, they should still go see their provider and say, ‘hey, you know, I'm not feeling so good, and I got this weird rash’, and then they can be evaluated.
But the risk is really, really low, if you've had even one dose of vaccine, the risk is very low, but two doses, it's very, very low.
McDonald: And tell us about measles. This is a very contagious disease, is that right?
Luedtke: Measles is very contagious and, you know, this is one of those experiences where I think we are kind of a victim of the success of this great vaccine. When I was a kid, everybody got measles, and you were sick for a while, and then you got better.
And a small number of people got really sick and were hospitalized, and rarely somebody would die from measles, but it does happen, 1 in 1000 or so. So, when you get 1000 cases, like we're about 1200 cases in America now for this year, and we've had three deaths. That's about what you see, you know, one-to-three deaths when you get that many cases. So, it can be severe and it's thankfully not severe in most people.
Unfortunately, many believe it's just a fever and a rash. And for many people it is, but not for everybody. Last year, 40% of people with measles in the United States were hospitalized. Hospitalization is not like a tune-up for your car. Hospitalization is when your body has failed. You need help. So this can be a really nasty condition.
Now most of those people get better, they don't have any further lifetime problems. Again, a small percentage gets serious problems. They get measles, meningitis, measles encephalitis.
And then you can have lifelong problems, which is why we really want people to sit up and check their shot records and say, ‘OK, I'm vaccinated, my kids are vaccinated, etc.’ and make sure they're protected when it does show up in Lane County, our region.
