Measles detected in wastewater in Coeur d’Alene. But no Idaho cases reported amid national outbreak.

After measles was detected in wastewater in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho health officials are encouraging medical providers to look for the disease.

Wastewater surveillance — a recently expanded public health tool that involves studying traces of diseases in sewage water — doesn’t necessarily mean officials will detect cases of the infectious disease they spot. But the detection suggests someone had measles in the North Idaho area.

Idaho health officials have not reported any measles cases in state residents this year, during the nation’s worst outbreak of the highly contagious virus in decades.

Idaho health officials believe someone in the Coeur d’Alene area was infected with measles, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Epidemiologist Dr. Christine Hahn said in an interview. But officials