MEASLES – USA (02): MULTIPLE STATES (NEW JERSEY, PENNSYLVANIA,
WASHINGTON DC, MISSOURI, WASHINGTON)
A ProMED-mail post
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ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org
In this update:
[1] New Jersey case/Pennsylvania update
[2] Washington DC: international traveler
[3] Missouri: Clay County
[4] Washington: Clark and Wahkiakum counties
[1] New Jersey case/Pennsylvania update
Date: Thu 17 Jan 2024
Source: Asbury Park Press [edited] https://www.app.com/story/news/health/2024/01/17/measles-outbreak-new-jersey-philadelphia-measles-vaccine-age/72253408007/
A measles case has been confirmed in New Jersey while 9 have been
identified in Philadelphia.
The New Jersey case was identified in Camden County, and as of 17 Jan
2024, it remains the only confirmed incident in the state.
“Given the serious consequences of measles and the ease with which it
can be spread, we will be engaged in a large investigative effort
centered on locating and ensuring the immune status of those
individuals who may have been in contact with this patient,” said
Camden County health officer Paschal Nwako in a statement.
While Camden is the closest New Jersey county to Philadelphia, health
authorities haven’t been able to find a connection between the
infected patient here and the ongoing outbreak in Philadelphia.
The state Department of Health is currently working to find the source
of the infection and to locate and notify people who might have been
exposed to the infected resident.
So far, authorities know that a Camden County resident who was exposed
to measles visited 2 healthcare facilities, one on 5 Jan 2024 and
another on 8 Jan 2024. The time and place of the visits were:
– 5 Jan 2024: Cooper University Healthcare Pediatrics in Voorhees
Township from 11:35 a.m. to 2:32 p.m.
– 8 Jan 2024: Emergency department at Jefferson South Jersey Stratford
Hospital in Stratford from 8 p.m. to 12:38 a.m.
This is the first confirmed case of measles reported in New Jersey
since March 2023.
Health officials in Delaware said that 20 to 30 people may have been
exposed to measles by an infectious person at Nemours Children’s
Hospital in Wilmington on 29 Dec 2023.
In Virginia and Washington, DC, authorities issued a news release
warning travelers who earlier this year [2024] went through Dulles
International Airport and the Ronald Reagan Washington National
Airport of a possible exposure to a person with measles. The person
had recently returned to the U.S. from abroad.
The U.S. measles cases are rising amid a measles outbreak in the U.K.,
where more than 1600 people were infected in 2023 and some 50 patients
have been hospitalized there in the past month.
Experts agree that the 2-dose measles vaccine – available since 1963 –
is the best way to prevent the viral infection.
Why has measles become common again?