While the United States is seeing the highest number of reported measles cases since 1994, Kentucky has not seen high numbers of the disease so far this year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported 764 cases of measles in the U.S. between Jan. 1 and May 3. There are 23 states that have reported measles cases this year.
Executive Director of Public Affairs at the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services Doug Hogan said one of the reported cases involved an unvaccinated child who’d traveled out of the country to an area where measles is endemic, according to the Kentucky Department for Public Health. That case is not linked to the ongoing measles outbreaks occurring in other parts of the country. A sibling to that child also contracted measles, both after returning to Kentucky. Both children have reportedly since recovered from the disease.
Measles remains rare in the U.S. and are considered highly contagious and dangerous.
No in-state transmission has been reported in Kentucky. The risk of measles in Kentucky remains through travel from other states or countries where measles is present.
Green River District Health Department Epidemiologist Jessica Austin said because of the current national outbreak of measles, adults should be vaccinated or receive a booster shot if they have records of being vaccinated in certain timeframes.
“Adults without evidence of immunity, or if you don’t have vaccination records or lab results showing immunity, should receive a vaccination,” Austin said. “Anyone born after 1957, or anyone born between 1963 and 1968 who isn’t sure what type of vaccination they may have received, should be vaccinated as well.
“The message is, ‘If you don’t know when you got one, get one,’” Austin said.
Austin said public health specialists are highlighting the need for a vaccination or booster shot because of the current measles outbreak. Though only two cases in Kentucky have been reported, Austin reiterated the fact that traveling back and forth between different locations can raise the risk for measles.
“If you’re in contact with someone who’s traveled outside the U.S., you should be vaccinated,” she said. “This vaccination wasn’t something adults were routinely getting but, with an outbreak, pharmacies and general [practitioners] are likely carrying it right now.”
Austin said the risk of contracting measles is exacerbated by the fact that we live in such a mobile society.
“Someone could be in California one day and back here the next,” Austin said. “I think there’s a larger population of young people who haven’t been vaccinated and that kind of increases the risk of transmission in the community.”
Austin said there’s no known side effects of getting the measles vaccine or getting another dose.
The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services says if measles is suspected due to an outbreak or rash to check the patient’s travel status over the last three weeks to other countries or states with measles. Those concerned with potential outbreaks should also verify vaccination status and assess the likelihood of measles based on the clinical assessment.
If measles is suspected, patients should be isolated in a negative pressure room with airborne precautions. Proper testing should then also be ordered, including measles RNA by real-time RT-PCR collected with a nasopharyngeal swab.
The likelihood that a patient will contract measles when he or she has been fully vaccinated, has no known exposure risks or symptoms patterns is extremely low.
Experts say that 71 percent of individuals who’ve contracted measles were unvaccinated, while another 18 percent had an unknown vaccination. Only 11 percent were vaccinated.
