Two more people in Montezuma County have come down with the measles, bringing the total number of cases in the county this year to four.
County public information officer Vicki Shaffer told KSJD in an email that the latest cases are in a parent and a child who are in the same family as a child who developed measles earlier this month. Both children are under school age. None of the three were vaccinated. None have been hospitalized.
The fourth local case was in November in an unvaccinated child who had traveled out of state. The most recent cases do not involve out-of-state travel.
In a press release, Shaffer said the two people recently infected have been in quarantine during their contagious period and there are no known places where the public was exposed to them.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment detected measles virus in wastewater samples from the Cortez Sanitation District on December 9 and 11, according to the release. People infected with the virus reportedly may shed it in their urine for several weeks.
Measles is a highly contagious respiratory disease that is spread through coughing, sneezing, and close contact. It can best be prevented by the MMR vaccine, which also protects against mumps and rubella.
Colorado has had 36 cases of measles so far this year, five of which resulted in people being hospitalized. No cases resulted in deaths.
Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.