Five Measles Cases in Fremont County Are a Reminder: this Virus Doesn’t Need Much Room to Spread

The original story by Nick Perkins for Oil City News.

Wyoming just added another cluster to its 2025 measles tally – and it’s the kind of situation public health officials dread because it’s both predictable and hard to fully contain once it gets rolling.

The Wyoming Department of Health says it has identified five measles cases among Fremont County residents, all tied to the same chain of transmission. The first exposure happened outside the state, and then the virus likely moved through close contacts back home. The cases include adults and children, and every person involved was unvaccinated at the time of exposure. None were hospitalized – good news, but not a reason to relax.

With these five cases, Wyoming is now at 14 measles cases in 2025.

Measles isn’t like the average winter bug. It’s one of the most contagious viruses out there, and it thrives on small gaps – a missed vaccine here, a delayed shot there, a family gathering, a ride in the same vehicle, a shared indoor space.

Health officials emphasized the stakes in their release: measles can lead to pneumonia, encephalitis, hospitalization, and death. Even when people recover, outbreaks soak up public health staff time fast – contact tracing, exposure notifications, and advising schools, workplaces and families. For a rural state, that workload matters.

And the “unvaccinated” detail isn’t just background color – it’s basically the headline. Measles spreads best where immunity is thin.

So far, WDH has named one place where the general public may have been exposed:

• Flying J Travel Center, 1920 Harrison Drive, Evanston;
• 1, 2025, from 2:30 to 5 p.m.

That’s a high-traffic stop with people constantly coming and going – exactly the kind of setting where measles can quietly tag the next person. And here’s the kicker: WDH notes the virus can hang in the air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves. So “I was only there for a minute” isn’t the comfort it sounds like.

WDH said it did not identify any other Wyoming locations where the general public was exposed – which suggests officials believe the rest of the spread happened in tighter circles, like households or close-contact settings.

WDH is urging residents to make sure they and their kids are up to date on the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps and rubella), calling it highly effective and long-lasting.

In practical terms, the state is also trying to remove excuses: MMR shots are available through providers’ offices, pharmacies, and public health nursing offices. In Fremont County specifically, people can get vaccinated at the public health offices in Riverton and Lander.

This Fremont County cluster reads like a template: exposure outside Wyoming, local spread through close contacts, unvaccinated cases, and a single public exposure window at a busy travel stop. Nobody ended up in the hospital this time, but measles doesn’t always give you that kind of – and it doesn’t need many chances to find its next host.

For symptoms guidance and what to do if you think you were exposed, WDH directs residents to: health.wyo.gov/publichealth/infectious-disease-epidemiology-unit/disease/measles/.