The Oregon Health Authority announced Friday that two new cases of measles have occurred in unvaccinated children in Marion County.
The children were diagnosed with measles on July 11 and 12. No public health cases have been confirmed, health officials said in a news release.
Two cases were reported last month in a Clackamas County home, one in an unvaccinated adult and one in an unvaccinated child.Health officials said at the time that the adult appears to have contracted the virus in Marion County between mid-May and early June.
Dr. Paul R. Cieslak, medical director for the Oregon Health Authority, said in a statement that measles is a highly contagious disease. Dr. Cieslak said adults born after 1957 can get the vaccine at any age. Because measles was widespread before the vaccine was developed, people born before 1957 are generally considered immune.
According to health officials, measles spreads through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes and can last up to two hours. A person is contagious for four days before and four days after the rash appears. Symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose and bloodshot eyes, usually followed by a rash that starts on the face and spreads to the entire body. These symptoms begin seven to 21 days after exposure to the infection.
Officials say the potentially deadly disease poses the greatest risk to people who have not been vaccinated against measles, pregnant women, babies under 1 year old and those with weakened immune systems.
Health officials warned earlier this year. Declining vaccination rates among Oregon childrenLast school year, Oregon had the second-highest rate of non-medical exemptions in the nation. Centers for Disease Control and PreventionOfficials say the measles-rubella-mumps vaccine is highly effective against measles, but only if enough people are vaccinated.
Officials are urging anyone with measles symptoms to call a health care provider or urgent care center ahead of time and to make a plan for entry to avoid spreading the disease to others in the facility.
— The Oregonian/OregonLive
