Officials seek residents who may have contracted measles

Officials Seek Residents Who May Have Contracted Measles

By Tara Slate Donaldson

Times-Democrat Staff Writer

Regional health officials are scrambling to find out if anyone else has contracted measles after a Prince William resident was diagnosed with the potentially deadly disease. On Tuesday, the Virginia Department of Health announced that Prince William has the state's first confirmed case of measles this year.

Allison Ansher of the Prince William Health District said on Tuesday that anyone who has been at any of several public places throughout the region, including two in eastern Prince William, should contact authorities immediately.

While most people with measles will recover, 20 percent of cases experience one or more complications, especially among children under five years of age and adults over 20 years.

"Measles is a vaccine-preventable disease and for the most part, most of the citizens would be immune," Ansher said.

Most children receive their first measles vaccine between the ages of 12 and 15 months and the second at age 4 or 5 or before starting to school. Immigrants who had already contracted measles in their home countries may also be immune to the disease and some people may have natural immunity, she said. However, immigrants who were not vaccinated and who have not already had measles, as well as natural-born citizens who were not vaccinated as children are at risk.

Ansher said health officials have been in touch with the employees of all of the facilities where the infected person has been during the contagious period. In addition, she said, doctors and hospitals throughout the region have been alerted to be on the lookout for measle-like symptoms.

Because Northern Virginia residents are so mobile – living in one jurisdiction, working in another and shopping or traveling through even more, the case is considered a regional issue, she said.

Officials have not given any identifying characteristics of the infected person but when asked whether the Prince William Health District is coordinating with the school system, Ansher said no; an indication, at least, that the infected person is not likely to come into contact with school-age children.

People who think they may have measles or may have been exposed to someone with measles should first call their local emergency room or doctor’s office before seeking care. That will allow health care workers to prepare the proper infection control measures before a patient’s arrival. People who think they have measles should also limit their exposure to others and stay home. Frequent handwashing and covering one’s cough will help limit the spread of disease.

To help identify those who were in contact with the infected individual and may be at risk, people who were at any of the locations listed below at the specified date and time are asked to call the Virginia Disease Prevention hotline at (800) 533-4148.

Listed below are the dates, times and locations of known exposure sites associated with this Virginia measles case: