Martha Martin has to use every day on vacation for the year to stay home with her little son, and it will not be enough yet.
Hal, nine months old, was recently exposed to measles in the nursery and cannot return for almost a full month. He has not had the measles-backtake vaccine-rubella, which is not recommended up to 1 years. When Martin has to return to work, her husband must take several unpaid days to stay at home with the child.
“It angry me so much that this is happening,” said Martin, 26, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. “It’s scary because my son is not protected, and I have to worry about child care and my work and my husband’s work.” In these situations, the centers for disease control and prevention recommend quarantine for 28 days.
Because it is too young for the measles vaccine, Hal needed immunoglobulin or IG emergency shots, an antibody that helps the immune system to combat infections.
At this point, Martin said: “It’s just a waiting game.”
The concern and frustration of his family are being developed in homes throughout the country, since the number of measles cases has exceeded a level not seen since the highly contagious virus was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000.
On Wednesday, the CDC reported 1,309 measles cases in 39 states. The vast majority of patients are children.
Each of those cases has had the opportunity to expose hundreds or even thousands of people, especially children, either too young to be vaccinated, such as HAL or children with weak immune systems, experts said.
Dr. Ana Montanez, a pediatrician of Texas Technology doctors in Lubbock, Texas, attended many families during the recent measles outbreak in western Texas.
“Many of our families, working families, generally do not have a month of salary savings to stay at home, but they have to do it,” said Montanez. “It is often not just a job, but two, maybe three.”
Cedar Rapid is not experiencing a measles outbreak. Only seven cases have been confirmed in Iowa in 2025, according to the latest data in the state. They are the first cases of measles informed in Iowa since 2019.
Even so, the situation of the Martin family illustrates the effects of a single exhibition.
“What is happening in our city is a perfect example of why vaccination is important,” said Dustin Arnold, medical director of UnityPoint Health-Cedar Rapids. “A measles case is simply needed, he said, to activate the impact waves.
On Saturday, Arnold directed a command center that gave immunoglobulin or Ig shots for eight babies that were exposed to measles in the same nursery as Hal. Three others were sent to a nearby medical center for the same treatment.
IG injections can be administered up to six days after measles exposure. A 2021 study found that therapy is highly effective in protecting newborns exposed to get sick.
Ig treatments are not a permanent solution, said Dr. Tina Tan, president of the Society of Infectious Diseases of America. Children “develop much higher levels of immunity from vaccination than by immunoglobulin,” he said.
Cedar Rapids Ig clinics, directed by Arnold, were gathered at the last minute. Babies who received the injections had been exposed six days before, on Monday, July 7. Families were notified on Friday, July 11, and the treatments began the next morning.
“There are babies that have no protection, and we don’t want them to get sick,” said Arnold. “Measles can be soft, but it can also be deadly.”
Most patients with measles have gone well despite their illness. Even so, 13%, or 164 patients, should be hospitalized due to infection.
Three people, including two girls in Texas, have died of measles this year. Last week, a child in England died of the virus.
