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Measles Outbreak May Take Financial Toll

The measles outbreak not only takes a toll on those infected with the virus, but it also takes a financial toll. In 2008, two Tucson-area hospitals spent $800,000 responding to a measles outbreak that infected seven people at those facilities. 

“It really is a whole societal cost, because you’re going to have costs to family, you’re going to have costs to health care system or the health care facilities that they were at, you’re going to have the costs that cost their insurance plan to play for that, you​'​re going to have the cost of public health following up with all the contacts," said Dr. Cara Christ with Arizona’s Department of Health.

Christ says the costs of a measles outbreak like this will be very expensive. So far, two people in Maricopa County have become infected with the virus, while another five confirmed cases are in Pinal County.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article has been modified to reflect there are five measles cases in Pinal County.

Updated 5:42 p.m. on 1/28/2015.

KJZZ senior field correspondent Kathy Ritchie has 20 years of experience reporting and writing stories for national and local media outlets — nearly a decade of it has been spent in public media.