Health officials confirmed a new case of measles Monday. A child who has been hospitalized is the state’s 17th case of the virus.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Adams County Health Department confirmed the case in a child younger than 5 years old from Adams County, according to a press release. The child remains hospitalized.
They had not received the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. They traveled with family to Chihuahua, Mexico, where there is an ongoing measles outbreak.
Measles is highly contagious, but preventable. Getting vaccinated is the best way to protect yourself, your family, and your community, health officials say.
They gave one possible exposure location. It's the Children’s Hospital Colorado Emergency Department in Aurora on Tuesday, Aug. 12, between 6:30-10:15 p.m.
If exposed, symptoms could develop through Sept. 2.
The state has now recorded 17 measles cases this year, with five recorded in residents of Arapahoe County, four in Denver and El Paso counties and one each in Adams, Archuleta, Boulder and Pueblo counties.
Five people have been hospitalized with measles this year in Colorado; no one has died.
Among Colorado’s cases, 10 are associated with an out-of-state traveler who flew while infectious.
According to the state’s dashboard, 91.5 percent of Coloradans ages 1-18 have received at least one dose of the MMR vaccine.
The measles vaccine is “very safe and effective,” according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“When more than 95 percent of people in a community are vaccinated, most people are protected through community immunity (herd immunity),” according to its website.
Seventeen cases is far and away more measles cases than Colorado has recorded in the last decade. In 2016, it had two cases; in each other year between 2014 and 2024, it reported either one or zero cases. In the entire decade before 2024, the state had only six confirmed measles cases total.
The CDPHE measles webpage has information about symptoms, transmission, and vaccine recommendations, 2025 Colorado measles case information and a current list of exposure locations.
