The state’s outbreak means adapting to America’s new reality, in which vaccine-preventable diseases become common again. SALT LAKE CITY — Ben Dowse hadn’t expected to treat measles when he became a doctor, but there he was, examining a newborn exposed to the virus in the womb.
The infected mother had given birth just hours earlier. The hospital had alerted Dowse to the case before delivery, and he’d braced himself for the worst.
Dowse wore a full-body protective suit with a plastic face mask. As a pediatrician in southern Utah, he couldn’t risk getting even a mild infection, because many of his patients are babies too young for measles vaccines or children whose parents choose not to protect them with immunizations.
“I went in looking like a scientist in E.T. ,” he said.
Measles can cause brain damage, deafness, or death in newborns. If the baby entered the world with a measles rash and fever, Dowse was prepared to give the infant a spinal tap to assess the risk of neurological damage.
Luckily, flushed and crying, the baby looked healthy.
KFF Health News published a clinical update in Research Highlights on 10 Jun 2026.
The item focuses on Anguished Parents.
Doctors in Tears.
Utah’s Long Measles Outbreak Takes a Toll.
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