GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Reported cases of measles in Michigan have hit a high unseen in two decades.
Angela Minicuci with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says the state has tallied 10 cases of measles so far this year — the highest case count since 1998.
Michigan is among 21 states and the District of Columbia that have reported 107 cases of measles through July 14, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC says the majority of those sickened were not vaccinated.
Measles is common in countries American travelers visit. Symptoms generally pop up 7-14 days after a person is infected, and include high fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes. Two or three days after symptoms set in, tiny white spots may appear inside the mouth. Three to five days after the start of symptoms, the patient will suffer a rash that usually begins as flat red spots on the face and spreads downward to the rest of the body. The rash may be accompanied by a fever that could spike to more than 104 degrees.
In 2017, 118 people from 15 states and the District of Columbia reported contracting measles. That was up from 86 people in 2016, but down dramatically from the 2014 record of 667 cases nationwide.
The 2014 cases were related to nearly two-dozen outbreaks, the largest of which primarily involved unvaccinated Amish communities in Ohio.
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