Recently a case of the highly contagious disease, measles, was identified in a San Mateo County resident and over 14 cases have been reported within the entire state of California. In response, the San Mateo County Health System issued an official public health advisory on February 21, 2014.

“We haven’t seen a case of the measles in California since 2012,” the San Mateo County Health System’s Public Information and Communications Officer, Robyn Thaw said. “Our immunization rate is so high across the United States that we pretty much wiped it out in 2000.”

In comparison with the fact that, according to the California Department of Public Health, only two measles cases were reported in all of California this time last year, over 14 cases being identified in 2014 is shocking. One case of the measles in San Mateo is somewhat alarming and seems just a little to close to home here at Skyline College.

The advisory issued by the San Mateo County Health System warned clinicians and nurses of the possible threat. The opening line of the advisory reads, “FEVER AND RASH? CONSIDER MEASLES AND PROTECT PATIENTS AND STAFF FROM THIS HIGHLY INFECTIOUS DISEASE.” It included a list of symptoms for clinicians to watch out for, telling them to mask and isolate suspected patients and to “implement appropriate infection control measures.”

“You know, it can be somewhat like the flu. It’s highly contagious and you want to keep people isolated,” Thaw said. “Especially when children too young to get vaccinated are around. We’ve isolated the case here locally in San Mateo, but I think it’s increasing in the state.”

Thaw says that when an extremely contagious disease like the measles is identified in a community, standard protocol is to issue an advisory to clinicians. They do this so that when a patient enters a health care facility with certain symptoms, doctors know what to look for.

In other words, if someone walks into a clinic showing the same symptoms of the measles that resemble say, symptoms of the flu, and an advisory warning of a measles outbreak has not been issued, the doctor may not test for it. The measles can be very dangerous if not treated and in some rare instances, can cause death.

Coincidentally, the California Department of Public Health, issued a statement stressing the importance of measles vaccinations on the very same day of February 21 when the advisory went out to San Mateo. In the Department of Public Health statement, the State Health Officer and Director of CDPH, Dr. Ron Chapman is quoted saying that immunization is the best defense against the measles with 99 percent of people developing immunity after only two doses.

“Most of the measles cases we see are from people who’ve traveled abroad to countries like India and the Philippines. There’s a serious outbreak of the measles in the Philippines right now” Thaw said. “People who don’t get their vaccines before they travel are the most vulnerable.”

For more information on the measles and travel vaccines visit the California Department of Public Health website at:

http://www.cdph.ca.gov/Pages/DEFAULT.aspx

or click this link to the California Center for Disease Control:

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/list