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Epidemic Hazard in USA on Wednesday, 25 May, 2011 at 02:57 (02:57 AM) UTC.
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| Description |
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State health officials declared a “public health emergency” Tuesday after a test confirmed a case of measles in an unvaccinated Dallas County baby who apparently picked up the disease in India. They said people who might have been exposed included passengers on an Americans Airline flight from Chicago to Des Moines May 11 and people who were at Mercy Medical Center or a Mercy pediatric clinic in downtown Des Moines May 14. Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, medical director for the Iowa Department of Public Health, said many Americans falsely recall measles as a benign childhood illness. “I get asked by medical students, ‘Which disease are you most afraid of?' And they expect me to say Ebola or SARS or something like that – but, it’s measles,” she said. “I don’t think people understand how bad it can be, how many people can get seriously ill and, unfortunately, how many people can die from this disease. It’s bad and it’s probably the most spreadable disease we have in our society.” The doctor said people can catch it if they pass through a room two hours after a person with the illness left. “That’s why it can just explode,” she said. Quinlisk said the unidentified patient seemed fine when boarding a plane from India, but became ill by the end of the journey back to Iowa. The patient stayed home until May 14, then went to Mercy. She said the person, who had not been vaccinated, did not have to be hospitalized. Dr. Asha Madia, a Mercy pediatrician, said the patient is an 8-month-old boy who had a fever, a rash and a mild eye infection. He has recovered. She said the boy was not vaccinated because such vaccinations generally are not given before age 1. But she said his family believes in vaccinations and had immunized the boy’s older sibling.
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| Biohazard name: |
Measles |
| Biohazard level: |
2/4 Medium |
| Biohazard desc.: |
Bacteria and viruses that cause only mild disease to humans, or are difficult to contract via aerosol in a lab setting, such as hepatitis A, B, and C, influenza A, Lyme disease, salmonella, mumps, measles, scrapie, dengue fever, and HIV. "Routine diagnostic work with clinical specimens can be done safely at Biosafety Level 2, using Biosafety Level 2 practices and procedures. Research work (including co-cultivation, virus replication studies, or manipulations involving concentrated virus) can be done in a BSL-2 (P2) facility, using BSL-3 practices and procedures. Virus production activities, including virus concentrations, require a BSL-3 (P3) facility and use of BSL-3 practices and procedures", see Recommended Biosafety Levels for Infectious Agents. |
| Symptoms: |
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| Status: |
confirmed |
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