Tests are in progress now to see if two people on the North Olympic Peninsula have measles.
Laboratory testing could determine whether Clallam County has its fifth case of measles this year, or if the symptoms seen in a preschool child were caused by a recent vaccination, according to Iva Burks, Clallam County Department of Health and Human Services director.
Patient specimens from the possible fifth patient in Clallam County were taken Monday and sent overnight to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Ga., for expedited special testing that can distinguish actual measles from symptoms caused by vaccination.
A test has been done of one person in Jefferson County, with results from the state lab expected soon, said Lisa McKenzie, communicable disease program coordinator.
A test done last week was negative, McKenzie said.
Both county public health departments are following quarantine procedures as if they were measles cases to protect the community if tests verify the illness.
Burks said privacy regulations precluded her identifying the child’s gender or place of residence other than within Clallam County.
McKenize said that the department does not give information about age or gender when only a test has been done.
The last confirmed case of measles in Clallam County was in the third week of February. No cases have been confirmed in Jefferson County.
Seven cases have been confirmed in Washington state. Two were in Grays Harbor County and one in Whatcom County.
The CDC’s latest report is that 170 people from 17 states and the District of Columbia were diagnosed with measles between Jan. 1 and Feb. 27.
