Kentucky has a measles outbreak, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services announced Monday.
It started in Woodford County and spread to nearby Fayette, the cabinet said days after announcing four new cases of the highly contagious virus in unvaccinated people.
“When there are measles outbreaks in other states and nearby countries, it is not surprising to see spread to Kentucky,” Dr. Steven Stack, the public health commissioner and newly-appointed cabinet secretary, said in a statement. “Measles can be very serious, but it is avoidable through vaccination. We urge all parents to have their children vaccinated to ensure they are protected from preventable diseases like measles.”
Measles is extremely contagious and is spread through the air from coughs or sneezes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One infected person can infect 9 in 10 unprotected people around them, the CDC says.
Symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and a rash. The CDC recommends the measles vaccination series at 12-15 months and then at 4-6 years old.
Despite this, vaccinations have declined recently.
“Results from the most recent school immunizations survey for the 2024-2025 school year indicate that only 86.9% of Kentucky kindergarteners are fully vaccinated against measles, which is lower than the national average of 93%. Two doses of MMR vaccine are required for school attendance in Kentucky,” the cabinet said.
Meanwhile, the United States is facing its “largest outbreak” of measles since it “was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000,” the cabinet said.
An outbreak is defined as three or more related cases, according to the CDC.
As of June 24, 37 jurisdictions reported 1,227 confirmed measles cases to the CDC.
In Kentucky, “health officials are working to identify people who may have been exposed,” the cabinet said. “There are currently five measles cases in Kentucky, four of which are connected to the same outbreak.”
So far in 2025, the state has reported these measles cases:
- In February, an adult was diagnosed with measles after traveling internationally. This was the first case in a Kentuckian since 2023.
- In March, an unvaccinated child traveling through Kentucky had measles. The child was treated and did not expose others.
- On June 27, the cabinet reported four new cases of measles in unvaccinated Kentuckians. Three of the four cases were from the same household in Woodford County. The fourth, unrelated to the others, is a Todd County person who was exposed while traveling internationally.
- On June 30, the cabinet announced that the “measles outbreak that started in Woodford County has spread to Fayette County.”
This story is developing and may be updated.
This article is republished under a Creative Commons license from Kentucky Lantern, which is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com. Follow Kentucky Lantern on Facebook and Twitter.
Sarah Ladd is a Louisville-based journalist and Kentuckian. She has covered everything from crime to higher education. In 2020, she started reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic and has covered health ever since.
