Six unvaccinated people have confirmed measles infections in a cluster of cases in southeastern Minnesota.

Fillmore County Public Health announced the total late this week, calling the cases “connected” and warning “the case count may continue growing in the days and weeks ahead.”

People should “continue watching for measles symptoms and reach out to public health or your health care provider about testing” if symptoms appear, the county health department said in its alert.

The cluster started with an adult who was likely infected while traveling through other states, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. A state spokeswoman on Friday said “the additional Fillmore cases had exposure to the original case,” but decined to specify where or how.

Measles causes an itchy head-to-toe rash and can trigger fever and respiratory symptoms. About one in 10 cases requires hospitalization. The virus that causes measles is one of the most infectious agents on the planet, capable of lingering in droplets in the air long after infected individuals have spread them by talking, coughing or sneezing.

Minnesota’s measles case count for 2026 is now 24, including the six Fillmore cases.

An unrelated case also was confirmed in Todd County in a person who was infected while traveling in the U.S. The health department in that west-central Minnesota county said there are “several” additional cases of suspected measles and urged unvaccinated residents to seek out shots.

The annual total is already the fourth-highest in Minnesota in decades, reflecting a decline in the state’s measles vaccination rate. Minnesota reported 26 cases of measles in 2025 and 70 the year before that.

Only 66% of children in Fillmore who were born in 2023 were vaccinated against measles by age 2, according to a Minnesota dashboard. That is the second-lowest rate among Minnesota counties, and well below the statewide vaccination rate of 86% for this age group.

Fillmore is close to the state border with Wisconsin, which is confronting a larger measles outbreak. Of the 263 cases reported so far in Wisconsin this year, 238 have been confirmed in a four-county region in the southwest corner of the state.

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