Make sure you’re up-to-date on immunizations
Salt Lake City—An independent testing program detected measles in the wastewater in the Provo area from a sample collected on July 7. This means at least one person was in the area who had measles at that time. To date, nine Utah residents have been confirmed to have measles, seven of which are residents of Utah County. This particular detection is not a surprise to public health officials, who are sharing this information to affirm that measles is circulating in Utah County and to encourage individuals to take precautions. We would encourage anyone with symptoms of measles to contact a healthcare provider right away.
“Wastewater sampling is a new and useful tool for public health,” said Dr. Leisha Nolen, state epidemiologist at the Utah Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). “In this case, we know someone had measles in the Provo area around the time the sample was taken. It’s possible these wastewater results simply reflect that person. Information from wastewater will be most useful when it is positive in areas where no one has been identified with measles. When that happens, we will be able to use the data to alert clinicians in those areas to make sure they are aware someone with measles may come in for care.”
DHHS was notified of the positive sample by WastewaterSCAN officials on July 11, 2025. WastewaterSCAN is a program based at Stanford University which monitors infectious diseases, specifically measles, in wastewater systems across the nation, including two sites in Utah (located in Provo and South Salt Lake). Utah DHHS will be monitoring wastewater across all 35 Utah sites for measles; however, that system is not yet fully functional. We expect our testing will be available in the next month.
“When people get sick with measles, they can shed the virus in their feces or urine which then goes into our wastewater or sewer systems. This can then be detected for days to weeks in wastewater samples. This helps us identify communities where people are infected with measles, sometimes even before we know that anyone is sick, ” said Nathan LaCross, manager of the DHHS Utah Wastewater Surveillance System.
Information from testing samples of wastewater can’t be used to identify a specific person, or traced back to households or individuals. Samples are collected at the water treatment plant where all of the wastewater from the entire community goes to be treated.
Measles is an illness that spreads very easily from one person to another. While many people with measles will have mild illnesses (such as fever, rash, diarrhea, or ear infections), it can cause serious health complications, especially for pregnant women, babies, and young children. Measles is so contagious that 9 out of 10 unvaccinated people who come into contact with the virus will get sick if they are not protected. A person who has measles can spread the illness to others even before they have a rash. The risk of getting measles from wastewater is extremely low. Measles virus spreads through the air and close contact with an infected person.
“This is another reminder that measles is in Utah and it is important to protect ourselves and our families from getting measles. The best protection against measles is the MMR vaccine. The MMR vaccine is 97% effective against measles when 2 doses are given. It is very rare for someone to get measles if they are vaccinated,” said Nolen. It can take 1 to 3 weeks to show symptoms of measles after you have been infected with the virus. Measles usually starts with symptoms that seem like a cold or allergies (fever, cough, red or watery eyes), followed by a rash with small red spots that generally begins 3–5 days after other signs of the illness starts. The rash typically starts at the face or hairline and then spreads down the rest of the body. People can also get tiny white spots that appear inside the mouth on the inner lining of the cheek (Koplik’s spots).
For more information, visit https://epi.utah.gov/measles/. The number of measles cases in Utah is updated every day by 3 p.m. at https://epi.utah.gov/measles-response/.
Map of the wastewater collection area in Provo, Utah
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