Posted on 02/12/2008 8:33:11 PM PST by BenLurkin
Six more children may have caught measles in San Diego, in addition to four previously confirmed cases, it was reported today.
County health officials told the The San Diego Union-Tribune that test results are pending for the six new cases of the disease, which is easily prevented by vaccination and has become relatively rare. Until last month, San Diego had gone 17 years without any confirmed cases of measles cases.
County health officials say the outbreak began with a child who contracted measles during a family trip to Switzerland and brought it back to San Diego. The child infected two siblings who then passed it on to a classmate at the San Diego Cooperative Charter School in Linda Vista, according to the newspaper.
From there, county health officials suspect, some of the new unconfirmed cases were passed around at the doctor's office where the first child was seen and to the Baldwin Academy Daycare Center and Murray Callan Swim School, both in Pacific Beach.
"Children younger than 12 months of age are at greater risk because they have not received the measles vaccine," said Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county's public health officer.
As a precaution, more than 50 children at the charter school, day care center and swim school have been asked to stay home for two weeks to help stop the spread.
Measles symptoms include a high fever, coughing, runny nose and watery eyes followed by a skin rash that starts on the face. Public health officials recommend children receive the measles vaccine at age 1, with a second dose between ages 4 and 6.
The measles were brought into San Diego from Switzerland?
I would have guessed Mexico.....
That’s because you are a racist protectionist. </s>
Being so close to Mexico it’s a miracle that they went 17 years without a case.
Aw hell, when I was a kid back in the dark ages everybody got the measles. It did not seem to be an epidemic worry back then.
What are the immunization protocols in Switzerland? anybody know?
Dont they follow the WHO recommendations?
Actually here in San Diego TB is brought across the border
from Mexico among other diseases
Lots of kids still die from the measles, thats why we vaccinate kids here in the US. Man do people forget....
# Epidemiology
* 50 million cases world wide/yr; 1 million deaths/yr
o No longer indigenous in U.S.
* Infectivity rate of 76%
# Morbidity/Mortality
* Dehydration (diarrhea), Pneumonia, Croup, Hepatitis, Vitamin A deficiency, Myocarditis, blindness
* Acute encephalitis (0.1%, permanent brain damage, 10% mortality)
* Delayed encephalitis in pts w/lymphoid malignancies (usually fatal)
* Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE): rare degenerative, chronic dz
o Behavioral, MS changes, seizures
o Incubation period: 10.8yrs (mean)
Another day, another reason to home school...
Health officials: Plane load to Hawaii at risk for measles
By Angelica Martinez
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM
February 12, 2008
SAN DIEGO – San Diego County health officials say passengers who flew out of Lindbergh Field to Honolulu on Saturday morning may be at risk for measles.
Hawaiian health officials are contacting 250 passengers who flew on Hawaiian Airlines Flight No. 15 to warn them that they may have been exposed to the disease. The flight left from Lindbergh’s terminal 2, gate 41, at 10:30 a.m.
People who were in that area from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. also may have been exposed, they said.
The warning comes after San Diego County health officials confirmed that an 11-month-old who was infected with measles was on the flight. It is the fifth confirmed case of the measles in the county, officials said.
The child is believed to have acquired the disease at Children’s Clinic in La Jolla, where the first measles patient received care on Jan. 25, officials said.
The child’s family flew to Hawaii Saturday and sought medical attention after the child developed a rash on Sunday. The child is being kept in isolation at a military base there until Thursday, when there is no longer a risk of disease being spread.
Wilma Wooten, a county public health officer, said in a news release that children younger than 1 year and people not vaccinated against measles are at greater risk of contracting the disease.
Officials said five other cases of measles in San Diego County have been reported but have not been confirmed.
Parents who think their child has symptoms of measles should make arrangements for a doctor visit that will not involve contact with other patients, Wooten said.
Symptoms include high fever, cough, runny nose and watery eyes, followed by a rash. The symptoms usually last one to two weeks.
The disease is contagious four days before and four days after the rash appears. The rash begins on the face and head and spreads to the hands and feet. It fades in the same order it appeared.
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