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Health Officials Issue Warning Of Potential Measles Exposure In Sedona

An out-of-state visitor, reportedly, a tourist to Sedona, may have left behind a deadly disease. Health officials in Arizona have said that this visitor may have exposed the population to measles.

This alarming discovery caused a warning by the Department of Health Services on Friday. The warning entailed some information on where the tourist visited exactly, and which people may have been in the same area at the time. The Department of Health Services sent a notice that anyone who was in the vicinity between August 6th between August 8th should check their past immunization records and watch for symptoms of measles. Most notably, anyone that was near Slide Rock State Park in the afternoon of August 6th or Enchantment Resort in the evening of the same day. The visitor was also noted to have been several other places on the 7th of August, including Pump House Station Urban Eatery, Redrock Precision Motors, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts Village and Rene at Tlaquepaque. The visitor to Sedona was also reported to have gone to a Cracker Barrel in Kingman the next morning, August 8th.

Although the department of health officials have said that there are no current reported cases of measles, anyone in the areas at those times should watch their health closely, and check and make sure they have been vaccinated against measles. This unfortunate discovery has truly shocked the town, and has everyone wishing that the visitor had not left behind possible traces of such a potentially deadly disease.


Most people in the U.S. have been vaccinated against measles. “The disease does pop up in the U.S. when unvaccinated travelers contract it in another country and spread it to people who are not protected from it,” said Dr. George Crawford, professor of medicine and infectious diseases at the University of Texas Health Science Center. 

644 people were reported to have contracted measles last year in the U.S. The highest since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000. The CDC blames the increase cases in some countries, such as the Philippines, to which Americans often travel and to the spread of the disease among unvaccinated people.

Public health officials say that the lack of vaccinating is contributing to the re-emergence of this preventable diseases that was once declared eliminated in the U.S.

“If you are unvaccinated and you come in contact with measles, there’s a 90% chance you will get it,” says Jason McDonald, a spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).