Mississippi is now on alert for the potential of a measles outbreak.

A sixth measles case was reported Monday in Memphis, and because of the city’s close proximity to the state of Mississippi, it is advised for people to be alert.

“Measles is a very easily transmitted infection from somebody who is contagious with it to somebody who is unprotected,” local pediatrician Dr. Gordon Sluis said.

Measles can be transmitted through coughing and can linger in the air for up to an hour or two making airplane rides and travel easy places to pick up the infection. If a person who has not been immunized inhales the contaminated air there is nothing that can be done to stop the infection in the person.

“If you don’t have protection already in your system and you get exposed, then it’s not possible at that time to do something or take something to keep you from getting it,” Sluis said. “That’s why immunization ahead of time, before you’re ever exposed, is the key.”

Local pediatrician Dr. Tom Moore said there are two types of measles: rubella or three-day measles, which causes severe congenital birth defects, and rubeola, which is the more common type. Measles symptoms include a cough, runny nose, conjunctivitis or pink eye, fever and a rash that covers the body.

“You feel totally miserable,” Sluis said. “In fact that is probably where the word measly comes from.”

There is no specific treatment for measles, Sluis said. He said the only option is supportive care to relieve the symptoms.

“The virus itself is not killable with medicines,” Sluis said.

From the measles infection, people can develop measles pneumonia, a severe respiratory infection, or measles encephalitis, a brain swelling.

“Those are the two things that can be fatal,” Sluis said. “It’s about a one out of 1,000 people who get measles will die from one of those complications.”

The complications and the highly contagious nature of measles are why physicians recommend immunizations. Most people are protected from contracting measles because of childhood immunizations. However, recently some parents have chosen not to immunize their children because of a fear that immunizations cause autism.

“That is one of the common misconceptions, it’s not a cause of autism,” Sluis said. “It’s far better to get the vaccines than to face a small chance of a serious infection.”

Moore said Mississippi has the highest immunization rate of any state.

Sluis said except for rare cases of medical exemptions, schools require two measles vaccines for children to enroll. Anyone born before 1956 is assumed to be immune, Sluis said, because the virus was prevalent before the immunization was available.

Infants under 12 months are too young to receive the immunizations, and it is important they don’t get exposed because it is likely for them to contract the infection. Sluis said people who receive immunizations are not only helping themselves but also all the people who come in contact with that person.

International travel is one of the main ways measles is transmitted through people who are not fully immunized or have immune system problems.