Advertisement Health officials urge vaccinations as measles reaches Iowa

Iowa health officials Monday confirmed the first case of measles in the state since 2011, as the number of measles cases surges across the United States.The Iowa Department of Public Health said the person from northeastern Iowa contracted the disease while on a trip to Israel, where outbreaks have been reported. The person had not been vaccinated, health officials said.Measles symptoms include fever, runny nose, cough and a rash. The infection can cause all sorts of complications, the worst of which is encephalitis, or the swelling of the brain.Measles is highly contagious to the unvaccinated and can be fatal, especially for children."Measles is really good at moving from person to person," said Dr. Caitlin Pedati, with the Iowa Department of Public Health. "It can hang around in the air on surfaces for up to two hours, so it's a pretty contagious virus."Twenty states have reported at least one case of measles since the beginning of the year with a combined 555 measles cases as of Monday -- up from 465 a week ago. It's the largest tally since 2014.RELATED: US measles count up to 555, with most new cases in New YorkThe number of measles cases had dropped so low in 2000 that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared the disease eliminated in the United States.State officials are working with the infected person, as well as with people possibly exposed. The Iowa Department of Public Health said there's no indication of any threat to the public.Dr. Ravi Vemuri, an infectious disease specialist at MercyOne in Des Moines, said the disease has been more aggressive recently, and it spreads quickly."The best piece of advice is, get vaccinated and make sure your children are vaccinated," Vemuri said.Those who received both measles, mumps and rubella vaccinations are about 98% protected from infection, he said. Even if an individual receives one vaccine, that's about 93% protection.The epicenter for the surge of U.S. measles cases has been in New York, where nearly two-thirds of all cases have been reported. Most of the New York cases have been unvaccinated people in Orthodox Jewish communities.The Associated Press contributed to this report.