After several weeks without a public measles exposure alert, Oregon health officials on Monday identified five new exposure windows at three Providence medical facilities in the Portland area.
The Oregon Health Authority and public health officials in Multnomah and Clackamas counties said people who were at the following locations during specific time periods may have been exposed to measles, a highly contagious virus that spreads through the air:
Providence Immediate Care, 16180 S.E. Sunnyside Road, Suite 102, Happy Valley: 7:42 a.m. to 10:22 a.m. Thursday, July 9
Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center emergency department, 1500 Division St., Oregon City:
Providence Portland Medical Center emergency department, 4805 N.E. Glisan St., Portland:
Anyone who was at those locations during those times should notify their medical provider right away, officials said. Providers can assess a person’s risk based on vaccination history, age and evidence of prior infection.
The new exposure sites come after a relatively quiet stretch. Oregon had not announced any public exposure locations since May.
Health officials declined to say whether the latest exposure alerts are linked to newly confirmed cases or to infections already included in the state’s tally through the end of last week. Jonathan Modie, a spokesperson for the state health authority, said any additional measles cases will eventually appear in the state’s public case count. (The state typically updates its statewide case count later in the week.)
Oregon has confirmed 27 measles cases so far this year, after reporting just one case last year. The total is approaching the 31 infections reported in 2024, the state’s highest annual count in more than three decades, but still well below the hundreds of infections recorded during a 1991 outbreak.
Measles is one of the world’s most contagious diseases. It spreads through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes, and virus particles can linger indoors for up to two hours after that person leaves.
Symptoms usually appear seven to 21 days after exposure and often begin with a fever, cough, runny nose and red eyes before a rash starts on the face and spreads to the rest of the body.
Officials are urging anyone who develops symptoms or believes they may have been exposed to call a healthcare provider before going to a clinic or hospital so staff can prevent exposing other patients.
While most people recover from measles, the disease can lead to serious complications like pneumonia or cause brain swelling and even death. The disease can be deadly for infants, children younger than 5 years old, pregnant people and those with weakened immune systems.
Two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine are about 97% effective at preventing infection. Public health experts say at least 95% of a population must be immune to stop the virus from spreading widely – a level known as herd immunity.
But growing vaccine hesitancy and declining immunization rates have made outbreaks more likely.
Declining childhood vaccination rates have left more communities vulnerable to outbreaks.
More than 2,230 measles cases have been confirmed nationwide this year, nearly matching the roughly 2,300 reported during all of last year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Nearly every Oregon case this year has involved someone who was unvaccinated. Health officials believe the true number of infections is likely higher because some people with mild illness never get tested.
State officials have released few details about the patients, including their ages and home counties, citing privacy concerns. However, wastewater monitoring has detected measles virus in several parts of Oregon, suggesting the virus may be circulating more widely than confirmed case counts indicate.
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