DuPage County confirms first measles case of 2026

Welcome back at 721 on your Thursday morning and the DuPage County Health Department has confirmed its first case of measles this year. And they say that this person was vaccinated but recently returned from some international travel. We're learning more about this case with Adam Forker. He's the executive director of the DuPage County Health Department. Thank you so much, Adam, for joining us. Good morning. Thank you for having me. Okay, what can you tell us about this case and how this person contracted measles if they were already vaccinated? Yeah, great question. Yeah, so it's our first case in 2024, our first case since 2024, actually. And then prior to that, we hadn't had a case since 2009. So it is a bit noteworthy in that regard, and also in that they were fully vaccinated. We call that a breakthrough case. It's rare, it's uncommon. It does happen, though, particularly if an individual has prolonged exposure to measles or were perhaps vaccinated a very long time ago. So it can happen. Okay, so can you tell us how you learned about this diagnosis? We have been reporting about the possible exposure at O'Hare. Any other locations that we need to know about? No, right now O'Hare is the only public location where possible exposures have occurred that we are not already doing direct outreach to others where we may be aware that that had happened. But international travel certainly increases the risk. Measles is present in our community a little bit, but in other parts of the world, it can be even more common. I don't know how old this person is, how long ago they got vaccinated, likely as a young person. I mean, do we lose immunity after getting those shots, maybe after, I don't know, 10, 15, 20, 25 years? How do we stay safe from these breakthrough cases? Yeah, great question. I think everybody's a little bit different. Most people that are fully vaccinated, had the two doses at any point, or were born before 1957, are generally considered fully protected and don't really need to do anything. But yeah, this is a case in an adult person. And like I said, each individual responds differently over time, and sometimes immunity can wane. So no need to re-up your vaccination status. In a traditional situation, we would be able to consider ourselves protected. Yeah, you got it. Really, what you can do to stay safe, because I heard that question in there, and I appreciate that question, is know your vaccination status. Get vaccinated if you haven't been. Understand signs and symptoms. you know what those are, right? That's the high fever, cough, runny nose, red or watery eyes, a rash, all of those kinds of things. Know those symptoms and then know what to do if you think you might have been exposed or you might be sick with measles. But yeah, you said it, you don't need to rush out and do anything special or different if you're already fully vaccinated. So it sounds like you said this is a unique case, but I guess I can still ask you, are you concerned about additional measles cases in DuPage County or maybe some of even the neighboring counties yeah well i think again you know measles is more present in our communities uh recently um you know DuPage County i'm still very confident there's there's uh high levels of vaccination you know our best data show that particularly in school-aged children who tend to be at higher risk we're close to 97 percent vaccinated on the data that we have um so you know i think that we remain optimistic that through vaccination and through our tried and true public health methods of communicating with everybody when there are exposure risks, coordinating with individuals who may have been directly exposed and helping them isolate or quarantine, doing those kinds of things, I remain confident that we'll keep this under control. Adam, any other messages that you have to the public up in DuPage County especially, or that may have been traveling internationally or in Terminal 5 of late that you want to get across this morning? Also, do people take this seriously? Cuz I think we hear about these alerts every so often around the country. But do you find that people are actually listening when there's a measles case reported in DuPage County? Yeah, I think people are listening and I appreciate that question. I know it's delicate, right? I mean, we try to strike the right balance between making sure the public's informed and aware and knows what to do so they can stay safe and protect themselves and their families. But not create fear and panic. I mean, that's not the goal. So I do think there's a balance. And I think people are listening and taking it seriously. Again, I know in DuPage County, we have strong support and people are vaccinated at a high rate. So yeah, I think that it can be fraught and complicated and delicate. But at the same time, I think a lot of our community is listening and taking it seriously. And to the first question, yeah, I just, again, I want people to know the signs and symptoms. I want them to check in on their vaccination status. And if they're not sure, to check with their health care provider or to check with their health department. So if you live in DuPage County and you might have been exposed or you're worried about it, call us. If you live in another county, call that health department. There's a lot of people that are ready to help you navigate that situation. Okay, solid message there. Adam, thank you so much. Thank you for having me.