OLYMPIA – A state health department spokesperson said today that he was unsure where a 5-year-old girl contracted the case of measles that resulted in quarantining some students at Olympic Christian School.
Dr. Madeline Harrington of Peninsula Children’s Clinic said a report in today’s Peninsula Daily News that the clinic had been the point of contact was “completely not true. It was another clinic.”
Neither the state spokesperson, Paul Throne, nor Harrington identified the other clinic.
Throne on Wednesday had told Peninsula Daily News: “She was going along with a family to the waiting room” where she came into contact with a 52-year-old man who was diagnosed with measles Feb. 1.
The girl has since been quarantined.
Here is today’s edited earlier report:
PORT ANGELES — A 5-year-old Olympic Christian School student who has been quarantined with measles caught the virus at a clinic, according to a state Department of Health spokesman.
The girl is one of two people who have been confirmed to have measles in Clallam County. None has been confirmed in Jefferson County.
However, four people — three in Clallam County and one in Jefferson County — have been tested for the measles virus. Public health officals awaited test results Wednesday afternoon.
The girl had not gone to the clinic feeling ill but had visited with other family members, said Paul Throne, spokesman with the Department of Health. She was diagnosed Feb. 11.
She had left the clinic an hour after a 52-year-old Port Angeles man, who later was diagnosed with measles, had left it, the spokesman said.
The man was the first case confirmed in Clallam County. He was diagnosed Feb. 1.
The measles virus can hang in the air or on environmental surfaces for two hours or more. The girl had not been vaccinated.
Dr. Tom Locke, Clallam County deputy public health officer and public health officer for Jefferson County, has said that all who were in the clinic waiting room the day the girl was there were contacted and vaccinated or treated if they were not immune to measles.
Twelve students at the private Olympic Christian School, 43 O’Brien Road, Port Angeles, were thought to have been vulnerable to measles from exposure to the girl at the school Feb. 6, Clallam County health officials said.
Those who were thought to have no immunity were quarantined. Some of the students were found to have had one measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccination and, after receiving a second shot, were readmitted to the school.
Students without immunity must remain home until Feb. 27, the end of the period during which they could be contagious. If they have not had measles by then, they can seek immunization.
Anyone who was inside the school on Feb. 6 may have been exposed. An estimated 90 percent of such people are at risk of measles.
Dr. Jeannette Stehr-Green, interim health officer for Clallam County, said that none of the four suspected measles cases, for which officials are awaiting test results, was “classic cases” of measles.
“When you have the possibility of measles, you have all sorts of rashes coming out of the woods and people going to see their health care providers,” she said.
It takes 24 to 36 hours for the tests to be completed at the state Department of Health in Shoreline, which received the blood samples Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Clallam County HHS will hold a no-cost clinic for measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine today at its public health clinic, 111 E. Third St., Port Angeles.
Together with office fees and injection fees, the vaccinations usually cost $112, according to Christina Hurst, public health program director.
“We’re hoping to get to those people who don’t have a healthcare provider in the community,” said Iva Burks, Clallam County HHS director.
Plenty of MMR vaccine is available.
“We have hundreds of doses and are ready to take on the masses,” Stehr-Green said.
Four more clinics are scheduled for next week. They are from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, 8:30 a.m. to noon Tuesday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday and 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday.
Stehr-Green advised people to call for an appointment at 360-417-2274, although walk-ins are available. They should not visit the clinic if they suspect they have measles but call their healthcare provider for a screening.
Clinics are set in Port Townsend at the Jefferson Healthcare Primary Care Clinic, 915 Sheridan St., from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday.
Vaccination appointments are required and are available by calling 360-379-8031.
There is no charge for a vaccine, but an administration fee will be billed to the patient’s insurance.
Olympic Medical Center has erected a tent to conduct measles exams in isolation.
At Forks Community Hospital, those with symptoms of measles — fever and rash — are asked to either call ahead to alert hospital staff that they are coming, or remain in their car and call 360-374-6271.
Information about the procedure at Jefferson Healthcare was not available by 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, but public health officials have said that all those who suspect they have measles should call ahead to care providers to avoid exposing others.
Clallam County has received help from an intern from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and two nurse-epidemiologists from the state Department of Health laboratory in Shoreline, Burks said.
Burks praised officials at Olympic Christian School in Port Angeles, attended by a 5-year-old girl who was diagnosed with measles, for their help in tracking students, parents and teachers with whom the girl had contact.
She also said the U.S. Coast Guard deserved “a big gold star” for vaccinating all its personnel
Clallam County HHS hopes to build a measles page on the county website, according to Stehr-Green, that will include latest information on new measles cases, if any.
To check progress on the page, visit www.clallam.net/hhs/PublicHealth.
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Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com.
