PORT ANGELES — Measles could come to Clallam County. They won’t be the same childhood ailment many older residents remember.
They could be deadly, said Dr. Tom Locke, health officer for Clallam and Jefferson counties.
Measles can cause brain infections, he told the Clallam County Board of Health on Tuesday, and measles pneumonia “is virtually untreatable,” he said.
“It’s a worrisome trend.”
All of Washington’s 16 measles cases as of Tuesday were confined to Grant County, where there are many unvaccinated children, Locke said.
But the disease is highly contagious, he said, explaining that if a measles carrier entered a room of people, 70 percent of them would be infected within an hour.
Adding to the problem is that measles is contagious for four days before a sufferer develops its telltale rash, he said.
