By Khalida Sarwari
Five cases of measles have been confirmed in Santa Clara County, and one in Alameda County, health officials said Friday.
All six cases involve unvaccinated patients, said Dr. George Han, assistant health officer at Santa Clara County Department of Public Health. Citing doctor-patient confidentiality protections, he would not reveal their ages, where they live or current conditions, but said the threat to the public is “very low.” Still, he indicated that six closely linked cases is unusual.
“It’s pretty uncommon because measles has been eliminated in this country for some time now due to our high vaccination rates,” Han said.
One of the six patients contracted the disease while traveling in Europe, according to Britt Ehrhardt, spokeswoman for the Santa Clara County Department of Public Health. The six cases were identified starting in early March.
A county health advisory that was distributed to physicians on March 7 states: “During this time, the patient attended school in Campbell and ate lunch on Friday, March 2 in the food court at Westgate Center, a mall located at 1600 Saratoga Avenue in San Jose.”
Measles is a highly contagious airborne disease that spreads easily through the coughs and sneezes of infected people. Symptoms usually develop 10 to 12 days after exposure to an infected person and last seven to 10 days. Initial symptoms typically include a high fever, cough, runny nose, inflamed eyes and a rash that begins in the forehead and spreads throughout the body.
“Generally people with measles feel pretty miserable,” said Han.
In rare cases, he said, patients can experience further complications from the disease, such as hearing loss, inflammation of the brain, pneumonia and death.
Most people in the U.S. are vaccinated against the disease at age 1 and again before they start primary school. But that isn’t the case in other parts of the world, putting travelers especially at risk, Han said.
“We recommend everyone who travels gets the vaccine,” he said. “Any of them can bring back the disease.”
He recommended anyone who thinks they may have been exposed to measles or are experiencing symptoms, especially a fever and rash, to notify their doctor by phone before going into a waiting room or emergency room where they can potentially put others at risk.
The public health departments in San Francisco, Santa Clara and Alameda counties have all notified their physicians about the outbreak, said Rachael Kagan, a spokeswoman for SFDPH.
As part of their investigation, doctors in Santa Clara County have reached out to places visited by the affected patients over the last month to identify others that may have come into contact with them, Han said.
Now would be an ideal time, he said, for people to check with their doctor and make sure they have been vaccinated against the disease.
More information about measles can be found here.
Link:
