GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — According to the CDC, the United States has officially surpassed 1,000 measles cases. With nine confirmed cases in Michigan, the uptick is worrisome for some West Michigan doctors, as they say the illness is highly contagious but extremely preventable.
"We've eliminated measles, mostly in the United States, with the MMR vaccine, but that's decreased lately with the number of people getting vaccinated," said Region Six Healthcare Coalition Medical Director, Dr. Jerry Evans on Friday.
Evans said measles can be prevented with a two-shot series of the MMR vaccine. One dose offers 93% protection and the percentage goes up to 97% with two doses. Out of the 1,001 measles cases in the U.S., he said the majority of them weren't vaccinated.
"2% of the people that have had measles in the United States have had one shot, and 2% have had two shots. The other 96% either have had no shots or we're not sure about their vaccination status," Evans said. "Most of those cases are what we call travel cases, which means that people travel outside the United States get exposed to measles and come back and develop measles."
An outbreak is defined as three or more related cases. There have already been 14 outbreaks in the United States in 2025. There were a total of 16 outbreaks in 2024.
"2019, we had more cases, but we're still in the middle of it, so that's probably going to surpass that," said Evans. "It does worry us in the sense that here in West Michigan, specifically, we're at about 84% immunization status. The problem with that is it takes about 95% immunization status to prevent an outbreak."
There are currently nine confirmed cases in Michigan.
"There's one outbreak in Montcalm County that had four cases, one of which traveled outside, then the three caught it from that one person. So, that's the one outbreak we've had in in Michigan," said Evans.
It's also concerning for Dr. John Dykstra, a family physician with University of Michigan Health West.
"This virus is going to pretty much potentially hit anybody who does not have immunity. And just like any virus, our body will fight that off. And the best thing to fight a virus is a good immune system," said Dykstra. "With measles, there's some data to show vitamin A supplementation can also help your body."
He said it's usually the very young, the elderly, or those with underlying health conditions that are affected the hardest.
"Those folks may have a harder time clearing it. The other thing is, this virus may decimate your immune system, and then that allows a secondary bacterial infection to set up shop," Dykstra said.
Dykstra said outbreaks usually occur when people congregate together.
"Once fall hits and school comes back in, I'm expecting there's going to be, I hope not, but that's my suspicion, is probably when it will may spike again," added Dykstra.
He said now is the time to get vaccinated.
"If you're considering getting the measles vaccine, and you're going to wait till there's an outbreak, there may be some shortages," Dykstra said.
If you believe you have measles, Evans said to call your primary caregiver before visiting the emergency room or urgent care because of how contagious the illness is.
"Please call your doctor first. Don't just show up in a hospital. Let the hospital or the EMS agency that you call know that you've been in those areas and you might have measles, and they can take appropriate precautions," said Evans.
Follow FOX 17: Facebook - X (formerly Twitter) - Instagram - YouTube
