The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) announced on Friday that they are investigating a confirmed case of measles in Milwaukee.
The DHS along with the City of Milwaukee Health Department (MHD) and Walworth County Department of Health and Human Services are investigating a case of measles that was confirmed in a person who was traveling through Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport to Walworth County.
The case is linked to another confirmed case in a different state and comes as the DHS Wisconsin Wastewater Monitoring Program also detected measles in untreated wastewater collected in Walworth County, according to DHS.
The person was exposed to the measles in a different state and is not connected to the confirmed measles cases in Dane County and Waukesha County.
Health officials are working to identify and notify those who may have been exposed to the virus and will reach out directly to individuals identified as close contacts to the individual.
According to the DHS, people who have traveled on Flight WN 266 from Phoenix to Milwaukee General Mitchell International Airport or those who were traveling through the airport on January 29, 2026 between 10:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. may have been exposed to the measles.
Symptoms of the measles virus include a runny nose, a high fever, tiredness, coughing, red, watery eyes, or conjunctivitis, and a red rash that begins at the hairline and moves down towards the arms and legs around three to five days after symptoms begin.
The virus can also cause severe health complications such as pneumonia, brain damage, and deafness, according to the DHS. In some cases, the virus can be deadly. One in four people who contract the measles virus in the United States are hospitalized.
Any individual who develops symptoms of measles should stay home and contact their local care provider.
The measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine has a 97% effective rate at preventing the virus. In addition, those born before 1957 are considered to be immune from the virus and don't need to get the vaccine.
There are no other known cases of the measles in Walworth County at the moment.
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