Six new cases of measles have been reported in Clark County, health officials announced Friday, bringing the county’s total number of cases this year to 15.
The six new cases all involve unvaccinated children, Clark County Public Health said, and all were exposed to the virus in private settings. No additional public exposure locations have been identified for any of the new cases.
Of the 15 cases the county has seen this year, public health officials said, 13 were in unvaccinated people. The vaccination status was unknown for two of the cases.
Oregon and Washington have both seen a spate of measles cases this year. In the past week alone, a Gresham urgent care clinic, a Beaverton trampoline park and a Vancouver health clinic have all been identified as possible measles exposure sites.
Measles is a highly contagious, potentially serious illness caused by a virus. It’s spread through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. People with measles can be contagious before they show symptoms, officials said, and the disease can linger in the air after an infected person has left.
Symptoms usually appear seven to 21 days after exposure and often begin with a fever, cough, runny nose and red eyes before a rash starts on the face and spreads to the rest of the body.
“The MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine provides the best protection against measles,” Clark County Public Health said on its website. “Two doses of the MMR vaccine are about 97 percent effective at preventing measles. People who are not vaccinated or have not had measles in the past are at risk of getting sick if they are exposed to measles.”
The disease is particularly dangerous for children younger than 5, people who are pregnant and people with weakened immune systems.
According to a news release last week from Clark County, common complications of measles include ear infection, lung infection and diarrhea. Swelling of the brain is a rare but much more serious complication. Measles may cause pregnant people to give birth prematurely or have a low-birthweight baby. For every 1,000 children with measles, one or two will die from the disease.
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