The State Health Department confirms it is investigating a possible case of measles in Oklahoma.
Spokesman Tony Sellars says officials are awaiting test results. There has only been one case of measles reported in Oklahoma since 1993.
There have been more than 800 cases reported this year in the United States, with an outbreak continuing to spread.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says measles is a highly contagious virus that lives in the nose and throat mucus of an infected person. It can spread to others through coughing and sneezing. Also, measles virus can live for up to two hours in an airspace where the infected person coughed or sneezed. If other people breathe the contaminated air or touch the infected surface, then touch their eyes, noses, or mouths, they can become infected. Measles is so contagious that if one person has it, up to 90% of the people close to that person who are not immune will also become infected.
Infected people can spread measles to others from four days before through four days after the rash appears.
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