Department of Health Confirms New Case of Measles in Stearns County

ST. CLOUD -- The Minnesota Department of Health has confirmed a new case of measles this time in Stearns County.

So far there have been 29 confirmed cases of measles -- 28 in Hennepin County and 1 in Stearns County.

Kris Ehresman with the state Health Department says it's likely the child caught the virus from Metro area.

"This child is a Somali Minnesotan so it's very likely there was exposure from the Metropolitan area. But the good news is this child has received one dose of vaccine so it's likely to be less infectious," says Ehresman.

Of the 29 confirmed cases, 25 of them are in unvaccinated children, one case has MMR and the vaccination status of the remaining cases have yet to be verified.

Ehresman says the recent outbreak doesn't have anything to do with race, but that people are not vaccinated.

"This is really about not being vaccinated, it doesn't have anything to do with being Somali it's really vaccination status," says Ehresman.

So far, all of the cases involve kids up to five years old and 25 of the cases are Somali Minnesotans.