PORT ANGELES — Four people on the North Olympic Peninsula have been tested for the measles virus but confirmed cases remained at two, both in Port Angeles, on Tuesday.
However, health officials were bracing for more incidences of the highly-contagious viral disease.
Three people in Clallam County have been tested. One has been tested in Jefferson County. If that test proves positive, it could the first case reported in Jefferson.
Dr. Tom Locke, public health officer, said the results of the tests were not available as of Tuesday night.
“We do not have any additional confirmed reports [of measles] at this time,” Locke said.
Dr. Jeanette Stehr-Green, interim Clallam County public health officer, said Tuesday that none of the suspected cases “fit like a real clear case of measles right now, but that’s our job, to jump on them right away, see if they are and do that contact follow-up.”
(Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles has erected a yellow heated tent in a hospital parking lot to isolate and test patients with measles symptoms, as a way to prevent the disease from spreading inside the hospital. See a replay today of our Tuesday story: https://giftsnap.shop/article/20150218/NEWS/302189967 ).
The first confirmed case of measles on the Peninsula was a 52-year-old Port Angeles man who recovered after he was hospitalized on Feb. 1.
The second was a 5-year-old girl who attended kindergarten at Olympic Christian School at 43 O’Brien Road east of Port Angeles.
“It’s very possible that we’ll have some other people developing measles in this coming week who were exposed to that child,” Locke told the Clallam County Board of Health on Tuesday.
“We’re taking all the actions that we can to try to contain it and to limit the number of people who are exposed.”
The girl was unvaccinated, came into direct contact with the Port Angeles man and was diagnosed with measles after being examined last Wednesday at Peninsula Children’s Clinic, 902 Caroline St., Port Angeles.
Those who were in the clinic waiting room have been contacted and vaccinated or otherwise treated if necessary, officials said Friday.
Anyone who was at Olympic Christian School on Feb. 6 may have been exposed, Clallam County health officials said in a Tuesday news release.
Olympic Christian School students who can’t prove immunity to measles are under quarantine until Feb. 27 — three weeks after their day of possible exposure.
Locke, who had been public health officer for Clallam and Jefferson counties, now is serving in that role only for Jefferson County. He is serving as deputy public health officer in Clallam County.
Stehr-Green, a former health board member, was appointed interim Clallam County public health officer Tuesday.
The health board Tuesday passed a unanimous resolution declaring a public health emergency regarding measles.
The action, which the three county commissioners will consider next week, enables the health department to access Public Health Reserve Funds to handle the outbreak.
“In addition to accessing funds to deal with what will likely be a number of unanticipated costs, I think public health emergencies serve an important public communication function, too,” Locke said.
“It’s really saying to the public that something very different is going on now and people need to behave differently,” he said.
Added Jim McEntire, a county commissioner and health board member: “This is a ‘don’t panic but pay close attention’ kind of thing.”
Adults born before 1957 are presumed to be immune to measles.
The person who transmitted the disease to the 52-year-old man is “an entire mystery to us,” Locke said.
The genotype of the strain that infected the man has not been seen anywhere else in the state, Locke has said, adding that it is common in Asia and the Philippines.
The man told health officials that he had not been outside of Clallam County in the weeks before he developed a rash, Locke said.
“Whenever you get a single case of measles in public health it becomes kind of an emergency,” Locke added.
“The reason is twofold. One is that it’s extremely contagious and is spread by the airborne route.”
Measles can survive the air for about two hours. An estimated 90 percent of those who aren’t immune to measles will catch the disease if they’re exposed.
“And then, No. 2, we don’t have people becoming immune to measles anymore from natural and wild type measles infections,” Locke said.
“So the only way you can become immune is by being vaccinated.”
Only those who are not immune and who were exposed could get the disease.
Stehr-Green provided data from the state Department of Health that showed 85.4 percent of Clallam County students were fully immunized last school year.
“Chances are, we’re going to have a case in another school setting,” Stehr-Green said.
“I think that we want to get ourselves prepared and start working with those schools.”
Health officials are already working with school administrators to make sure that vaccination records are up to date, Stehr-Green said.
Teachers and students who have not been immunized are being encouraged to do so.
Measles almost disappeared in the United States but was brought back by un-vaccinated world travelers, Locke said.
Vaccination exemptions have left large numbers of children unprotected, health officials have said.
Clallam County Health and Human Services Director Iva Burks said the last measles outbreak occurred in the county in 1990.
To limit exposure, health officials ask those with a fever and rash to call ahead instead of walking into waiting rooms.
In Port Angeles, Olympic Medical Center erected a medical tent on Feb. 11 to isolate those who arrive with possible measles symptoms.
Forks Community Hospital has posted a sign asking those with symptoms or known exposure to stay outside and call for medical assistance at 360-374-6271.
Jefferson Healthcare officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
For details about measles, vaccinations, symptoms, morbidity and other information, visit http://tinyurl.com/PDN-CDCmeasles.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
