CDC urges health care providers to stay alert for measles cases
Symptoms include tiny white spots in mouth
Measles continues to spread in the U.S., as the total number of cases in 2025 is already more than three times the total for all of 2024.
As of May 22, there were 1,046 confirmed measles cases, up from 285 in 2024, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 80% of the cases are in Texas, New Mexico and Kansas, according to state public health data. The disease has been detected in 27 other states.
The CDC urges health care providers to stay alert for measles cases. Symptoms include fever, malaise, cough, runny nose, conjunctivitis and skin rash. The rash usually appears about 14 days after a person is exposed and spreads from the head to the trunk to the lower extremities.
The disease also manifests itself orally through Koplik spots, which are tiny white spots inside the mouth.
“I was recently reminded of the significance that dentists play in the identification of the early sign of measles intraorally by my child’s pediatrician,” said Margaret S. Gingrich, D.D.S., a member of the ADA Council on Dental Practice and the chair of the ADA Dental Team Wellness Advisory Committee. “The Koplik spots, which are an early indication of the highly contagious disease, may first be identified in the dental office. As health care professionals, we play an important role in the early detection of measles to assist in the effective control of it within our communities, especially since we don’t know who vaccinates and who doesn’t.”
Measles is one of the most contagious diseases. It is transmitted by direct contact with infectious droplets or by airborne spread when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes. The virus can remain infectious in the air and on surfaces for up to two hours after an infected person leaves an area. Patients are considered to be contagious from four days before to four days after the skin rash appears.
The CDC recommends health care providers isolate infected patients for four days after they develop a rash and follow airborne precautions in health care settings.
If dental professionals screen patients before an appointment and they report any measles-related symptoms, their appointment should be rescheduled. Anyone presenting with measles symptoms should be referred to their primary care physician, who can diagnose the disease and report it to the appropriate public health agency.
The best protection against measles and its complications remains the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine. Three unvaccinated people have died from measles this year, including two school-age children in Texas and an adult in New Mexico.
To stay up to date on the spread of measles in the U.S., visit CDC.gov/measles.
