Several people have been infected with measles after a mass exposure at the Utah High School Cycling League event on August 16.
More than 2,000 people attended the event. Four attendees were infected with the highly infectious disease, none of whom were vaccinated, but more are feared to be sick.
The newest cases bring the state’s total measles count to 24. All but one of those patients had been vaccinated before getting sick. Nationwide, the US is facing the largest measles caseload, over 1,400 infections, since the virus was declared ‘eliminated’ in 2000.
Measles is an infectious, preventable disease caused by a virus that leads to flu-like symptoms, a rash that starts on the face and spreads downward across the body, and, in severe cases, pneumonia, seizures, brain inflammation, permanent brain damage, and death.
The virus is spread through direct contact with infectious droplets or through the air. Patients with a measles infection are contagious from four days before the rash through four days after the rash appears.
People who are not vaccinated have a 90 percent chance of getting sick if they are exposed, even from sharing the same air, briefly or hours later, with someone who has measles. Three in 1,000 people who contract measles will die.
The two-dose measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) is about 97 percent effective at preventing the infection and is recommended as part of the childhood vaccine schedule.
The US has recorded 1,454 cases of measles this year, with 266 of those cases having been confirmed within the past two months. Three people, including one in Colorado and two children in Texas, have died this year from the virus.
Several people have been infected with measles after a mass exposure at the Utah High School Cycling League event in Soldier Hollow on August 16
The Soldier Hollow, Utah, event was a competition for teen cyclists, with teams that came from all over the state, which has a population of 3.5million people.
Dr Leisha Nolen, an epidemiologist with the state of Utah, said: ‘Measles is highly contagious and spreads easily, even at outdoor events.
‘Given the number of people who may have been exposed to measles at Soldier Hollow on August 16, 2025, we encourage attendees and participants of upcoming Utah High School Cycling League Region 6 events to check their MMR vaccination status.’
An estimated 90 percent of Utahns have received the MMR vaccine, below the CDC’s target rate of 95 percent, the level needed to prevent community transmission of measles.
Immunization rates for specific vaccines in Utah have decreased among kindergartners statewide since 2014.
The rate fell from an average of more than 85 percent for the 2014-2015 school year statewide to slightly over 78 percent for the 2024-2025 school year, the second lowest rate since 77.4 percent were vaccinated in the 2020-2021 school year.
Utah State Epidemiologist Leisha Nolan stated that vaccination is the most effective way to prevent the measles.
Public health officials are working with the Utah High School Cycling League to inform families of the race participants who attended the Soldier Hollow event.
The virus virus leads to flu-like symptoms, a rash that starts on the face and spreads downward across the body, and, in severe cases, pneumonia , seizures, brain inflammation, permanent brain damage, and death (stock)
The US has reported more than 1,400 measles cases in 2025, the highest tally since the disease was declared ‘eliminated’ in 2000
Before the current two-dose childhood vaccine’s approval in 1968, there were up to 500 US deaths each year from measles, 48,000 hospitalizations, and 1,000 cases of brain swelling.
Now, the virus is almost completely preventable, with a vaccine efficacy rate of 97 percent.
Sporadic outbreaks have occurred since the virus was declared ‘eliminated’ by health agencies in 2000, but recent case counts are a tiny fraction of the 27,000 cases reported in 1990 or the 450,000 cases reported in 1964.
The skyrocketing rate of measles cases in the US among a growing number of children and adults who have not been vaccinated has been attributed to renewed fervor in the anti-vax movement stoked by HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy, Jr.
A long-time vaccine skeptic, RFK Jr in the past has parroted the widely debunked link between the MMR shots and autism.
RFK has also relayed mixed messages about the MMR vaccine, saying at once that it is the most effective way to prevent measles, while also telling Congress that he believes that the increased risk of autism in children is in part due to a wide array of childhood immunizations recommended now compared to when he was a child.
US MMR vaccination coverage among kindergartners dropped to 92 percent nationwide for the 2024–2025 school year, a decline from 95 percent during the 2019–2020 school year and is below the 95 percent threshold needed for herd immunity to protect communities
Texas is a hotspot for measles, though outbreaks have cropped up nationwide in 2025
He has also endorsed cod liver oil and vitamin A as treatments for measles. Doctors use doses of vitamin A as a supportive treatment in patients in the early stages of measles, but it is not a cure.
In high doses, vitamin A supplementation can be toxic and potentially lead to chronic liver damage and failure, as well as death.
It is generally used for people with measles in parts of the world where a deficiency in the vitamin is common, which increases the risk of severe or deadly outcomes.
Vitamin A deficiency in the US affects less than one percent of the population, and last spring, Texas doctors saw a jump in the number of children with measles who had potentially irreversible vitamin A toxicity.