More Measles In Rhode Island

Providence, Rhode Island hospital patients may have been exposed to measles last week, according to state health officials.

The Rhode Island Public Health Department has issued a warning this past weekend informing residents of Providence that two hospitals have been potentially exposed to measles, a contagious respiratory disease that is most threatening to children and pregnant women.

According to the public health warning, an adult male was treated on February 25 for measles-like symptoms at Roger Williams Medical Center. It remains to be seen if he actually has the potentially harmful disease, but he has been isolated for treatment and other patients who shared rooms with him have been informed warned of potential exposure.

The second case originated from a person who developed a body rash and was seen at a CVS Minute Clinic in North Attleboro, Massachusetts. Recognizing the possibility of measles, the CVS physicians referred the patient to the Rhode Island Hospital Emergency Department, where he remained until the start of this month. At the time of discharge, doctors agreed that there was little doubt that the patient had contracted measles. Health officials have noted that neither patient has a history of receiving the  MMR vaccination, a childhood vaccine designed to immunize a patient from measles, mumps, and rubella (German measles).

These are the first two Rhode Island cases this year, but the third case of measles that was exposed to U.S. citizens in Massachusetts.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), thanks to the Childhood Immunization Program, over 90 percent of today's children have been made immune to a measles infection. So far, all East Coast cases of measles this year have been in adults who likely were not immunized as children.

The CDC maintains that the chance of a measles infection originating from the United States is extremely slim, as the virus, which only lasts about a week, has too few vulnerable hosts to jump to in a largely immunized country. Any infections that are found in the U.S. have been found to be the result of traveling abroad.

The Rhode Island Public Health Department released a general warning about measles exposure on March 2.

© MD News Daily.