Dallas reports first confirmed measles case since 2017

Dallas County reported its first confirmed case of measles since 2017 on Thursday.

Dallas County Health and Human Services reported an adult caught the disease from someone in Tarrant County at their workplace in Dallas on March 13.

On March 21, Tarrant County had its first confirmed measles case in four years, Tarrant County Public Health reported.

When the person was diagnosed with measles on March 28, DCHHS and the person’s employer in Dallas advised everyone in the workplace to avoid public areas through the 21-day incubation period, the health department said in a press release. No other secondary case was reported.

“Dallas County’s confirmed case therefore did not result in any additional public or workplace exposures,” the release said.

Measles is highly contagious and the incubation period for the illness is between seven and 21 days. Patients are contagious from four days before rash to four days after onset of rash, according to the Dallas health department.

Measles is preventable with a vaccine.

Anyone born after 1957 should have proof of at least one dose of the MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) vaccine or evidence of immunity to measles. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends two doses of the vaccine. The first dose should be given at 12 months and second between the ages of 4 and 6.

The last outbreak in Tarrant County occurred in 2013 when there were 15 cases there and five in Denton County that linked back to the 1,500-member Eagle Mountain International Church in Newark where a visitor returning from an international mission attended a service and exposed church members to the disease.