"Visitor With Measles Puts Area on Alert"

Immunization Newsbriefs (c) Copyright Information Inc., Bethesda, MD. Brought to you by the National Network for Immunization Information (NNii). Visit NNii's new website at http://www.immunizationinfo.org.

 

------------------------------------------------------------

 

June 24, 2002

 

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

 

"Visitor With Measles Puts Area on Alert"

Chattanooga Times Free Press (TN) (www.timesfreepress.com)

(06/22/02) P. B1; Park, Carolyne

 

Tennessee, Georgia, and Mississippi have put their health departments on alert since identifying a visitor who contracted measles during a recent overseas visit to Nigeria.  Public officials in all three states are concerned about secondary infections after learning the woman, who is now in respiratory isolation in a Tupelo, Miss., hospital, visited locals in Tennessee and Georgia since returning from her trip.  Dr. Valerie Boaz, health officer for Tennessee's Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department, says only those individuals who have never had measles or have not been sufficiently immunized are at risk; symptoms should present by June 19 through July 4 since the incubation time is anywhere from seven days to 18 days after exposure.  Initial symptoms of the viral disease appear like a cold and progress to a red, blotchy rash on the face, which spreads to the rest of the body.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention caution that untreated measles cases may lead to diarrhea, middle ear infections, pneumonia, and in rare cases, develop into encephalitis which may lead to convulsions, deafness, mental retardation, or possibly death.

Vaccination News Home Page

ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE.  THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.