{"id":66245,"date":"2026-01-13T14:18:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T22:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/?p=66245"},"modified":"2026-01-13T15:44:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T23:44:59","slug":"measles-is-more-than-just-a-rash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/news\/measles-is-more-than-just-a-rash\/","title":{"rendered":"Measles Is More Than \u2018Just a Rash\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article\">\n\t<header class=\"header\">\n\t\t<span class=\"type\"><\/span>\t\t<h1>Measles Is More Than \u2018Just a Rash\u2019<\/h1>\t\t<time>January 13, 2026<\/time>\n\t<\/header>\n\t<div id=\"block_35c26ed4ca9b46c8275e630bf7095f21\" class=\"shs-block block-news-article entry-content\">\n\t\t<div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"acf-innerblocks-container\">\n\n<p>Measles isn\u2019t simply a childhood illness. It\u2019s one of the most contagious viruses known, with possible life-threatening impacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before vaccines, measles killed an estimated 2.6 million people worldwide every year. Highly contagious, it infects about 90% of unvaccinated people who are exposed to the virus, making outbreaks swift and severe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;\u201cRecovering from measles can give lifelong immunity, but it comes with serious risk,\u201d said Adam Brady, MD, medical director of Samaritan Infectious Disease in Corvallis. \u201cBefore the vaccine, millions of Americans caught measles yearly, thousands were hospitalized and hundreds died, mostly young children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vaccination for measles is highly effective. Beginning in the early 1960s a coordinated effort delivered the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to the U.S. population. Measles was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, after nearly a quarter of century the easily preventable disease has returned to the U.S., primarily because the vaccination rate for children has decreased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Measles Complications <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The majority of people infected with measles recover within a week or two. However, the CDC notes risks of complications from measles infection:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Hospitalization.<\/strong>&nbsp;About 1 in 5 unvaccinated people in the U.S. who get measles is hospitalized.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Pneumonia.<\/strong>&nbsp;As many as 1 out of every 20 children with measles gets pneumonia, the most common cause of death from measles in young children.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Encephalitis.<\/strong>&nbsp;About 1 child out of every 1,000 who get measles will develop encephalitis (swelling of the brain). This can lead to convulsions and leave the child deaf or with intellectual disability.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Death.<\/strong>&nbsp;Nearly 1 to 3 of every 1,000 children who become infected with measles will die from respiratory and neurologic complications.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Complications during pregnancy.<\/strong>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/vaccines\/pregnancy\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">If you are pregnant and have not had the MMR vaccine<\/a>, measles may cause premature birth or babies with low-birthweight.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Serious complications can also include blindness, severe diarrhea, ear infections and chronic breathing issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/symptoms-measles-WI-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-66246\" srcset=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/symptoms-measles-WI-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/symptoms-measles-WI-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/symptoms-measles-WI-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/symptoms-measles-WI-178x100.jpg 178w, https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/symptoms-measles-WI.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Prevention<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The MMR vaccine offers 97% protection after two doses, with mild side effects and an exceptional safety record spanning over 50 years and a billion doses worldwide. The CDC recommends starting measles vaccination for children at 12 to 15 months of age. Vaccinating children also protects infants who are still too young for the vaccine, reducing community risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen our community is vaccinated, it builds protective immunity keeping the most vulnerable people in our community safer and healthier,\u201d Dr. Brady said.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<aside>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"360\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/child-with-measles-CO.jpg\" class=\"attachment-cta size-cta wp-post-image\" alt=\"Young boy with measles. His head on a pillow.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/child-with-measles-CO.jpg 360w, https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/child-with-measles-CO-300x250.jpg 300w, https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/child-with-measles-CO-120x100.jpg 120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/figure>\t\t<\/aside>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n\n\n<section id=\"block_57fba2b6428a0d38c231ba0edd82af1f\" class=\"shs-block block-section grid-container has-blue-light-background-color\" >\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-content\">\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Am I Vaccinated Against Measles? Where Can I Get a Vaccine?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The easiest way to check if you are vaccinated against measles is to confirm that you have written records of two MMR vaccinations. For those born before 1957 it is most likely you have natural immunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are unsure of your immunity, talk with your doctor to find out if you should be given a titer blood test. If you need a vaccination, you can either contact your primary care provider, walk into your local Samaritan pharmacy without an appointment or obtain the vaccine through a county health clinic or another local pharmacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For anyone who has measles symptoms and is seeking medical care, please call ahead to your health care provider or urgent care so they can create an entry plan to avoid exposing others in waiting rooms.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\t<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Measles is far from a harmless childhood illness\u2014it\u2019s a highly contagious virus with serious and sometimes fatal consequences. Learn measles symptoms, complications and prevention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":66189,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","_shs_workflow_notes":"Correcting a small AP Style error. AP Style says to use single quotes in headlines.","_shs_exclude_from_navigation":false,"_shs_promote_article_on_blogs":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[303,561,803,604,800,664,693,799,801,802,796],"news-topics":[277,496,494,286,290],"news-types":[270,272],"services":[238,243,256],"specialty":[9,58,714,80],"class_list":["post-66245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-albany","tag-corvallis","tag-encephalities","tag-good-samaritan-regional-medical-center","tag-infectious-disease","tag-lebanon-community-hosptial-foundation","tag-measles","tag-mmr-vaccine","tag-mumps","tag-rubella","tag-samaritan-albany-general-hospital","news-topics-childrens-health","news-topics-community","news-topics-education","news-topics-pregnancy","news-topics-senior-health","news-types-feature-article","news-types-news","services-family-medicine","services-infectious-disease-travel-medicine","services-pharmacy","specialty-family-medicine","specialty-infectious-disease","specialty-maternal-fetal","specialty-midwifery"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66245"},{"taxonomy":"news-topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topics?post=66245"},{"taxonomy":"news-types","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-types?post=66245"},{"taxonomy":"services","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/services?post=66245"},{"taxonomy":"specialty","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/specialty?post=66245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}