http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/health/20080216-9999-1m16measles.html
Health
officials await results for 12th child*By Cheryl Clark*
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 16, 2008
Five more children in San Diego have tested positive for measles, bringing
to 11 the total number of patients in a monthlong outbreak that has spread
to schools, grocery stores, the Del Mar Fairgrounds and Hawaii, county
officials said yesterday.

Public health experts are awaiting test results for a 12th child.

Two other youngsters have developed symptoms of measles, but county
officials have not discovered a link between them and the current outbreak.

One of the newly confirmed patients is an 8-year-old who may have spread the
measles virus during a visit to Whole Foods Market in Hillcrest that started
at 5 p.m. and lasted about an hour Jan. 29.

Two days later, the child attended "Corteo," a performance by the group
Cirque du Soleil, at the fairgrounds. He or she may have infected spectators
and employees at the 4 and 8 p.m. shows.

The child also went to Trader Joe's in Hillcrest between 1 and 2 p.m. Feb.
3.

"It is extremely important that people, particularly children . . . are
aware that they may have been exposed to measles," said Dr. Wilma Wooten,
the county's public health officer. The potentially fatal and highly
contagious disease takes several weeks to run its course.

Wooten said there's no longer an infection risk at the fairgrounds and two
supermarkets because the measles virus can't survive for more than two hours
after it is expelled by a cough or sneeze.

The measles outbreak is San Diego County's first since 1991. It began when a
7-year-old patient returned from Switzerland on Jan. 15 with what would
later be confirmed as measles. He or she infected two siblings and at least
four classmates. The 8-year-old patient identified yesterday is a classmate
of the 7-year-old.

On Jan. 25, the 7-year-old's parents took the youngster to the Children's
Clinic of La Jolla. The child may have coughed and sneezed in the office,
thus infecting four other children.

Those four patients returned to the clinic between Feb. 5 and 8, possibly
spreading the virus to 60 other children.

All of the 11 confirmed patients, from 10 months to 9 years old, were not
vaccinated either because they were younger than 1 – the minimum age for
measles inoculation – or because their parents objected to having them
vaccinated, county officials said.

School leaders, health officials and physicians say they hope the outbreak
will persuade parents to have their children inoculated against measles,
mumps and rubella. They said the vaccine is safe.

However, a growing number of parents are exercising their right under
California law to decline vaccination for their children. They fear that
vaccines may be linked to autism.

Measles was widespread in the United States before a vaccine was developed
in the early 1960s. At that time, many parents felt relieved when their
children got measles because the infection meant the youngsters would be
immunized for the rest of their lives.

Today, non-immunization rates throughout San Diego County average
1.6percent in preschool students and
2.5 percent in kindergartners, Wooten said.

As the outbreak continues to unfold, health officials in San Diego and
Hawaii are trying to track down the thousands of individuals potentially
exposed to measles.

Infection experts from the national Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the state Department of Health Services are working with more
than 30 of San Diego County's employees.

These health officials are seeking prospective patients linked to the San
Diego Cooperative Charter School in Linda Vista; Children's Clinic of La
Jolla in Bird Rock; School of the Madeleine and the Alcott Elementary School
Infant & Toddler Development Program, both in Clairemont; Baldwin Academy
and Murray Callan Swim School, both in Pacific Beach; the fairgrounds; and
the two grocery stores in Hillcrest.

Hawaiian health officials are contacting the roughly 250 passengers who may
have been exposed to measles from an infected child aboard Hawaiian Airlines
Flight 15, which left Lindbergh Field on Feb. 9. Also potentially affected
are people who were at the airport's Terminal 2, Gate 41 between 8:30 a.m.
and 12:30 p.m. that day.

Measles causes a high fever, cough, runny nose and watery eyes. A rash
usually follows.

In the United States, measles can be fatal in up to three per 1,000 children
who contract it. The death rates are higher in developing countries.

Children are more at risk of suffering complications, including pneumonia
and swelling of the brain, than senior citizens. Most adults have been
immunized by the measles vaccine or by getting measles when they were young.
------------------------------
Cheryl Clark: (619) 542-4573;
*cheryl.clark@...*<http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/health/MAILTO:ch\
eryl.clark@uniontrib.com>

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