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Eugene man with measles may have exposed travelers
Saturday, June 02, 2007 | No comments posted.
EUGENE (AP) - A man infected with a case of the measles while visiting Japan potentially exposed dozens of air travelers to the disease along with more than 100 hospital patients, employees and visitors in Eugene, health officials said.
The Eugene man, who was not identified by officials, is in his early 20s. He flew back from Japan on May 22, changing planes in San Francisco.
The man would have been contagious during those flights, said Dr. Paul Cieslak, communicable disease manager in the state Public Health Division.
Passengers could have been exposed to measles, but public health officials have found that air travel historically does not pose a high risk for the spread of disease, Cieslak said.
Airlines circulate and refresh the air inside a plane several times an hour, he said. And if the patient was not coughing during the flight, measles is not that contagious, he said.
“It appears to be pretty rare,” Cieslak said.
The man showed up at the Sacred Heart Medical Center emergency department last Saturday. Doctors diagnosed him with measles, and isolated him in a room in the progressive cardiac unit, hospital spokesman Brian Terrett said.
Other confirmed cases have yet to emerge, but Lane County Public Health and Sacred Heart Medical Center officials are contacting anyone who may have been exposed directly or indirectly to find out if they have immunity to measles.
At least three Sacred Heart employees, including one doctor, were found to have no immunity to measles and were told to stay home on paid leave for three weeks, Terrett said.
The man is now recovering at home and no longer is contagious, Lane County public health officer Dr. Sarah Hendrickson said.
She noted the man was never vaccinated for measles. “He came from a background of vaccine resisters,” Hendrickson said.
The vast majority of Americans - about 95 percent - have immunity to measles, either because they received two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine as children, or because they were born before 1957 and exposed to the virus, public health officials said.
In Lane County, slightly less than 5 percent of school-age children are exempt from state law requiring vaccinations because their parents oppose the shots on philosophical or religious grounds, public health nurse Martha deBroekert said.
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Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com
The Eugene man, who was not identified by officials, is in his early 20s. He flew back from Japan on May 22, changing planes in San Francisco.
The man would have been contagious during those flights, said Dr. Paul Cieslak, communicable disease manager in the state Public Health Division.
Passengers could have been exposed to measles, but public health officials have found that air travel historically does not pose a high risk for the spread of disease, Cieslak said.
Airlines circulate and refresh the air inside a plane several times an hour, he said. And if the patient was not coughing during the flight, measles is not that contagious, he said.
“It appears to be pretty rare,” Cieslak said.
The man showed up at the Sacred Heart Medical Center emergency department last Saturday. Doctors diagnosed him with measles, and isolated him in a room in the progressive cardiac unit, hospital spokesman Brian Terrett said.
Other confirmed cases have yet to emerge, but Lane County Public Health and Sacred Heart Medical Center officials are contacting anyone who may have been exposed directly or indirectly to find out if they have immunity to measles.
At least three Sacred Heart employees, including one doctor, were found to have no immunity to measles and were told to stay home on paid leave for three weeks, Terrett said.
The man is now recovering at home and no longer is contagious, Lane County public health officer Dr. Sarah Hendrickson said.
She noted the man was never vaccinated for measles. “He came from a background of vaccine resisters,” Hendrickson said.
The vast majority of Americans - about 95 percent - have immunity to measles, either because they received two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine as children, or because they were born before 1957 and exposed to the virus, public health officials said.
In Lane County, slightly less than 5 percent of school-age children are exempt from state law requiring vaccinations because their parents oppose the shots on philosophical or religious grounds, public health nurse Martha deBroekert said.
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Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com
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