It was a comeback year in 2025 in many ways, from the resurgence of \u201990s fashion, such as bootcut jeans and denim-on-denim, to the return of wired headphones.<\/p>\n
But 2025 also saw the revival of less desirable relics, like the measles, which infected Mesa County residents for the first time in over two decades.<\/p>\n
However, the return of measles wasn\u2019t isolated to Mesa County, with more than 1,900 national cases breaking a record for annual infections that lasted more than 30 years.<\/p>\n
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 47 outbreaks across the country this year, with more than 200 people hospitalized and three dead: two unvaccinated Texas children and an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico.<\/p>\n
In comparison, there were 285 confirmed cases in 2024, across 16 outbreaks. In 2023, there were 59 cases. The disease was also declared eliminated in 2000.<\/p>\n
However, measles came out of the gate swinging in January, with a few cases reported in Texas\u2019s South Plains multiplying to more than 100 cases by the end of February and spreading into New Mexico.<\/p>\n
The disease started cropping up in parts of Colorado, like Pueblo and Denver, toward the start of April, but no other county in the state saw as many cases as Mesa County.<\/p>\n
Mesa County skirted its first measles scare in early June, when an infected Colorado Springs resident traveling through the area made a pit stop at the Love\u2019s Travel Stop and Carl\u2019s Jr. at 748 22 Road.<\/p>\n
Although the exposure went without incident, a Grand Valley resident tested positive for the measles just a few months later, on Aug. 15.<\/p>\n
Mesa County Public Health Epidemiologist Supervisor Kathleen Satterfield told the Sentinel that the single case grew into an outbreak, as the individual was linked to six additional infections over the following weeks.<\/p>\n
Adding to community concerns, local public schools kicked off the academic year just one week before the first case was confirmed.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, efforts by Mesa County Public Health and its statewide counterpart led to the outbreak\u2019s eventual containment on Sept. 24 \u2014 about 37 days after the initial case was announced.<\/p>\n
In total, the county saw 11 measles infections, with the local public health department adding that none of the cases resulted in hospitalization or death.<\/p>\n
According to Satterfield, much of the success in containing the outbreak could be attributed to the department\u2019s partnerships and ability to implement an emergency response.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found out just how strong our partnerships are in the community, whether that be with medical providers or the school district,\u201d Satterfield told the Sentinel in September. \u201cWe collaborated very well to respond to the outbreak as fast as possible and contain it. I would say that\u2019s our biggest takeaway.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that 27 department employees were dedicated to the outbreak response, tracing exposures to more than 300 locals, monitoring more than 50 exposed locals for infection and answering a daily average of nearly 100 questions through its temporary measles hotline.<\/p>\n
The employees came from varying sectors of the department, but Satterfield said they were already cross-trained in emergency disease surveillance for that exact type of circumstance.<\/p>\n
While Mesa County\u2019s outbreak is now three months in the past, Satterfield added that vaccination remains critical in preventing future infections or outbreaks \u2014 of the measles and many other contagious diseases.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to let the importance of the vaccine continue beyond this point,\u201d she told the Sentinel in September. \u201cIt\u2019s still important for people to get vaccinated. Measles is a preventable virus, and the MMR vaccine is highly effective and very safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re fully prepared to respond if any additional cases of measles come up in the future,\u201d she added. \u201cWe\u2019re at the helm, and we\u2019re continuing to monitor.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a comeback year in 2025 in many ways, from the resurgence of \u201990s fashion, such as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[121253,63748,97263,9701,1913,3862,34988,11972,163,1541,121252,38154,34967,4454,85,10922,9232,4746,46,13380,121254,3865,2409,3488,4929,78884,97262,546,34985,33433,6137,89245,64359,121251],"class_list":{"0":"post-219681","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-airborne-diseases","9":"tag-animal-diseases","10":"tag-animal-viral-diseases","11":"tag-covid-19-pandemic","12":"tag-disease-outbreaks","13":"tag-diseases-and-disorders","14":"tag-epidemics","15":"tag-global-health","16":"tag-health","17":"tag-health-care","18":"tag-health-disasters","19":"tag-health-policy","20":"tag-health-sciences","21":"tag-human-diseases-and-disorders","22":"tag-il","23":"tag-immunology","24":"tag-infection","25":"tag-infectious-diseases","26":"tag-israel","27":"tag-measles","28":"tag-medical-humanities","29":"tag-medical-specialties","30":"tag-medicine","31":"tag-microbiology","32":"tag-pediatrics","33":"tag-preventive-medicine","34":"tag-primate-diseases","35":"tag-public-health","36":"tag-public-health-emergencies-of-international-concern","37":"tag-vaccination","38":"tag-vaccine","39":"tag-vaccine-preventable-diseases","40":"tag-viral-diseases","41":"tag-viral-respiratory-tract-infections"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}