Utah measles outbreak brings its biggest surge yet

Between the lines: Measles symptoms typically appear one to three weeks after exposure to the highly-contagious disease.

• That delay means a case spike often doesn't appear within the week the new infections occur.

Threat level: It also means people who had contact with those new patients may be infected but not yet know it.

By the numbers: 559 Utahns have been diagnosed with measles since June, per case counts updated Tuesday afternoon.

• That's up 73 from last week's report, eclipsing the next-highest week-to-week increase of 44, in early March.

The big picture: Utah is now the nation's measles epicenter, accounting for nearly half of the nation's new cases last week, per the CDC.

• About one in 12 infected children under five have been hospitalized for the illness this year.