PORT ANGELES — Olympic Christian School students have been quarantined after a kindergarten student there was diagnosed with measles.
Olympic Christian School students must provide proof of measles immunity if they are to re-enter school after the diagnosis of a 5-year-old girl attending the school was confirmed by lab tests Thursday.
The quarantined students must stay at home, avoid public places and have no contact with people who are not immune to measles, the Clallam County Health & Human Services said today.
The quarantine will run through Feb. 27.
Students and teacher with proof of immunity can return Tuesday.
Dr. Tom Locke, public health officer for Clallam and Jefferson counties, had said Thursday that the girl was not in school during the time she was contagious.
He said today that he has reconsidered and decided to take more stringent measures.
Clallam County Health & Human Services employeees and Olympic Christian staff worked today to determine which children and their families may be at risk of measles, one of the most contagious viral diseases known.
The kindergarten student had been in direct contact — there were specifics given — with a 52-year-old Clallam County man who was hospitalized with measles on Super Bowl Sunday, health officials said.
He has recovered and been discharged from Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles.
Like the first case, the girl’s diagnosis has set off an effort to trace where she had been while infectious with measles. That list is not available yet.
Measles was once a common childhood disease that largely disappeared thanks to required immunization of school children.
However, because Washington state allows parents to exempt their children from vaccinations for personal, medical or religious regions, nearly 20 percent of Clallam County kindergartners and more than 52 percent of such students in Jefferson County lacked complete immunity, according to statistics compiled by Clallam County HHS for the 2011-2012 school year.
For Olympic Christian during that year, 18.4 percent of students, or 19 total pupils, were exempt, all for parents’ personal reasons.
Olympic Christian School is located at 43 O’Brien Road in Port Angeles. Email: ocs@olympicchristian.org. Phone: 360-457-4640
________
PREVIOUS STORY:
PORT ANGELES — A second case of measles has been confirmed in Port Angeles.
Tests showed Thursday that a 5-year-old girl evaluated at Peninsula Children’s Clinic on Wednesday has measles, said Dr. Tom Locke, public health officer for Clallam and Jefferson counties.
The child, who was not identified, is at her home and has been kept from others outside her family since Wednesday evening, he said.
The case is the second confirmed on the North Olympic Peninsula. There was no information released on how she may have been exposed to measles.
Anyone who was in the waiting room at the clinic at 902 Caroline St. on Wednesday was exposed, Locke said.
Those people will be contacted, he said, adding that he did not know Thursday what time the child was examined.
The child was seen on the first day of developing a rash and would have been contagious beginning Saturday.
She will remain contagious until Monday, but since she is isolated from others, the period of risk was Saturday through Wednesday, Locke said.
Asked about whether the young girl was in school or pre-school, Locke said: “There was no school exposure” during the period before she was diagnosed with measles.
(SEE RELATED STORY: “Measles perilous yet preventable: Here are answers to your questions” — https://giftsnap.shop/article/20150209/NEWS/302099977)
Public health officials will check to see where the child had been. If she was in public places, an advisory will be issued, Locke said.
“If you are immune, you have no problem whatsoever,” he said, adding that most people are immune to measles.
Those who are not sure about their immunity or who have questions should call their health care provider, he said.
If they lack a provider, they can call Clallam County Health and Human Services at 360-417-2274.
Locke asked that anybody who has a fever and a rash be evaluated but should not go to doctor’s offices without calling ahead first so they can be isolated from other patients.
Even after exposure, vaccination with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine can help those who are susceptible to the disease, but the vaccination must be within 72 hours of exposure, Locke said.
Hospitalized man recovers
Meanwhile, a 52-year-old Clallam County man hospitalized with measles has fully recovered.
The man, who was hospitalized with measles at Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles on Feb. 1, was discharged Thursday, Locke said.
The man, who was not identified, has returned to his Port Angeles home after spending several days in the intensive care unit.
He was considered to have been infectious for four days prior to the rash appearing and for four days after it appeared, Locke said. A list of public places where he went was released last weekend.
The man had other medical conditions that were exacerbated by the measles, Locke said.
“A prolonged hospitalization is unusual for measles,” he said.
Another person was tested in Jefferson County. That turned out not to be measles, Locke said.
How infected?
State health officials said earlier the Clallam County man was the fourth Washington state person confirmed with measles this year.
Officials said they had not determined where he got the disease.
More than 70 people in California — including six Disneyland employees — and about two dozen others in six states, Mexico and Canada have been sickened in a recent measles outbreak.
Measles is airborne and considered highly contagious.
Once regarded as a childhood illness, measles can be a serious threat to infants, pregnant women, recipients of organ or bone marrow transplants and people who take immunosuppressant drugs.
________
Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or at leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
