Trending
IRON MOUNTAIN -- A recent report of a couple of measles cases in southwest Wisconsin has turned into an outbreak, with 13 more confirmed cases and six probable cases of the viral illness, the state health department reported Thursday.
The outbreak in Iowa and Lafayette counties highlights the importance of getting vaccinated for measles, considered the safest and most effective way to prevent the spread of the virus, said Dr. Ryan Westergaard, chief medical officer in the communicable disease bureau of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
The new group of measles patients who have been diagnosed are in Iowa County, Westergaard told reporters at a DHS briefing on the findings. Most of them were not vaccinated for measles, he said.
DHS announced two measles cases Tuesday, one in Iowa County and one in Lafayette County, that were confirmed through tests at the Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene.
Those were the third and fourth measles cases in Wisconsin in 2026, and were not related to the first two this year, which were linked to out-of-state travel.
Subsequent investigation by the local public health departments in the two counties turned up the 13 confirmed and six suspected cases DHS announced Thursday. None of the current cases have been tied to travel.
“The rapid emergence of these cases, particularly among people who have not traveled outside of Wisconsin, indicates that there is active local transmission, and it’s very likely that additional cases exist in the community that have not yet been identified or reported to public health,” Westergaard said Thursday.
Westergaard said DHS would not release the ages or age range for any of the people with confirmed measles cases in the current outbreak in order to protect their privacy.
The department maintains a state registry for all measles cases that includes age ranges and vaccination status. Thursday evening, that record showed that of the 23 confirmed or suspected cases identified in Wisconsin in 2026, three were in children age 4 or younger, 11 were in children ages 5 to 17, and nine were in adults ages 18 or older.
Westergaard said it’s likely there are more people with measles whose cases haven’t been identified and therefore aren’t on the state’s dashboard.
With one exception, the patients identified in 2026 were not vaccinated for the measles virus, according to DHS. One has been hospitalized.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Wisconsin Examiner is a part of States Newsroom, the nation's largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. For more, go to https://wisconsinexaminer.com/.