Ashtabula County Health Department received numerous calls from residents asking for information and vaccine access.

"I had my original one before the MMR, so I’m not sure if it's still good,” said Glenda Bettridge of Ashtabula County, where there are now 10 confirmed cases of measles. Bettridge attended a vaccine clinic to get a measles booster saying she was worried about the outbreak.

The Ohio Department of Health said the one case they knew about last week has led to nine more exposures.

“We recognized what's currently going on in our county as a serious public health concern. We're meeting the needs of the public wherever they live,” said David Shumate, director of nursing for the Ashtabula County Health Department.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said measles isn't just a rash. It can lead to life-threatening complications, like brain inflammation and pneumonia and can be particularly dangerous for babies and young children.

“The first thing that's most concerning about the measles is to realize how contagious it is. Part of that is the fact that it travels in these small droplets in the air, it hangs in the air. If somebody with measles goes into a room and coughs, it's going to be in that room for about two hours,” said Donald Dunford, infectious disease physician for Cleveland Clinic.

Measles symptoms include a high fever, cough, runny nose, red, watery eyes, tiny white spots inside the mouth after two to three days after initial symptoms, and red spots that start at the hairline and spread to the rest of the body.

“One to three out of every thousand people who gets measles die from the infection, and about one to three out of every thousand will actually develop a very severe brain infection,” said Dunford.

In addition to being very contagious, people are contagious for a long period of time — from four days before the rash sets in to four days after the rash goes away.

Ashtabula County is offering the measles vaccine to people of all ages but reassured the public that all 10 of the people who contracted the virus here are past the infectious stage.

“There is definitely a risk of anybody, any time you get a vaccine of losing that immunity. In the case of the measles vaccine, those it actually carries a very high rate of protection for life,” Shumate said.

For those who aren’t sure whether they’ve been immunized or still have immunity, a simple blood test can determine it. After two doses, the vaccine is 97% effective at preventing the disease.

“Sometimes our clinics are full of people that come and want information, want the vaccines that we offer in the services we offer. Other times, we may only see one. For us, that's one more that wasn't vaccinated before,” Shumate said.