New Measles Risk at Portland International Airport After Infected Child Passes Through
An unvaccinated child under 11 returned with measles from a country experiencing an outbreak of the disease, Clark County Public Health officials said Wednesday.
The child passed through Portland International Airport on Nov. 14. Health officials did not say where the child had traveled.
The agency warned that people in Vancouver and Portland may have been exposed to the virus. If somebody was exposed to the measles and is susceptible to an infection, they might start showing symptoms between Nov. 18 and Dec. 9.
“This is an unfortunate reminder that measles is only a plane, car, bus or train ride away,” Clark County Public Health director Dr. Alan Melnick said in a statement.
These are the dates, times and locations that people may have been exposed:
Portland International Airport, Concourse E, north end of lower level, including restrooms and baggage claim, from 10:30 a.m. to noon Thursday, Nov. 14.
PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, 400 N.E. Mother Joseph Place, Vancouver, from 12:45 p.m. to 5:05 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14.
Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel, 2801 N. Gantenbein Ave., Portland, from 11:50 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16, to 4:25 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 17.
Health officials asked people who think they are infected to call their healthcare provider before going to the doctor or the hospital. Symptoms start with a fever, cough, runny nose and red eyes, Clark County health officials said. Those symptoms are then followed by a rash that usually starts on an infected person’s head and spreads to the rest of the body.
Oregon has had four measles cases between Oct. 1 and Nov. 14, at least three of them linked to travel through Portland International Airport.
The measles virus is very good at infecting people who are not vaccinated, lingering in the air for up to two hours after an infected person passes by and coughs or sneezes. It takes one to three weeks for symptoms to show, which is also when a person becomes contagious.
Measles kills about one out of every 1,000 infected people, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease is almost entirely preventable with two shots of a vaccine.
Clark County had one of the worst measles outbreaks in the country earlier this year, according to federal data. Out of 86 cases in Washington, 71 were in Clark County. The entire state of California had 68 cases. The county health department ended up home-quarantining 849 children, health officials said.
Combined, the outbreaks nationwide made for the worst measles season since 1992, federal health officials said.
-- Fedor Zarkhin
desk: 503-294-7674|cell: 971-373-2905|@fedorzarkhin
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