A third person in Idaho has tested positive for the measles this month.

Public health officials announced Wednesday that the third case, confirmed in an unvaccinated child in Bonner County, has no known link between the case in Kootenai County. There also was a case in Bonneville County earlier this month. “Without any link between these two confirmed cases in North Idaho or travel outside of their communities, it’s reasonable to suspect that there is more measles circulating,” Dr. Christine Hahn, the state epidemiologist, said in a news release.

Measles was first found in the city of Coeur d’Alene’s wastewater in late July.

On Aug. 6, public health officials in Eastern Idaho reported that a person traveling internationally had tested positive in Bonneville County. Then, on Aug. 12, the health district serving North Idaho confirmed a case in Kootenai County — the first known case of measles in the state’s panhandle since 1991.

All three cases have been in unvaccinated children.

“As we’ve seen with other states around the nation, cases can begin to multiply quickly,” Hahn said.

Texas, Kansas and New Mexico are among the states that have seen outbreaks this year.

Measles is a highly contagious disease that spreads easily through the air when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes. It can survive in the air for two hours after an infected person has left the area.

Symptoms such as fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and a characteristic rash typically appear seven to 14 days after exposure, according to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. Measles can lead to serious complications, especially in young children and people with weakened immune systems.

About 13% of adults and 21% of children with measles are hospitalized for the disease, according to Hahn.

Health and Welfare and the Panhandle Health District encouraged residents to verify their family’s vaccination records. Children are recommended to get two doses, once when they turn 1 and once before they start kindergarten, at about age 4 or 5.

Boosters aren’t needed, but if you can’t remember whether you were previously vaccinated, it causes no harm to get the two doses again.

“The measles vaccine is highly effective, and for most people, two childhood doses of vaccine is all they will ever need to protect themselves against measles for their lifetime,” the news release said.

Nearly 80% of kindergarteners in Idaho in the 2023-24 school year were vaccinated, leaving about 20% unprotected, according to the annual National Immunization Survey. Nationwide the figure was 92.1%.

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