Measles exposure worries public health

Officials seek families of 10 more kids who were at CHEO

Ottawa Public Health officials still want to speak to the families of 10 children who may have been exposed to measles in CHEO’s emergency room about a week ago.

Officials have already spoken to the families of 22 children who were present in the emergency room around the time an infected child was there, said associate medical officer of health Dr. Carolyn Pim.

The 22 children were in the emergency room with an additional 41 adults and siblings. Of those 63 people, 47 are considered immune because they have been vaccinated or previously had the measles. Another 16 people are considered susceptible, either because they had never been immunized, they had not received a second booster dose, or because they were too young to be immunized.

Two children and one adult exposed in the emergency room were considered “high risk,” including two children under a year old and an adult with a compromised immune system, said Pim.

Public health officials have left phone messages with the families of another nine children who were in the emergency room. CHEO is still trying to get additional contact information for a 10th child.

However, Pim said the public should be assured that all who were potentially exposed have been identified.

“For the general population, it’s not a concern,” she said. “But this is an example of how measles can come to our city.”

The infected boy, who is from Gatineau, was at CHEO about a week ago and had travelled abroad. The child’s age and travel route have not been released, but there is no concern that other travellers were exposed to measles, said Pim.

Typically, a vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella is administered at 12 months of age. Complications of measles include ear infections, pneumonia and, rarely, swelling of the brain.

However, some parents refuse to immunize their children. In 2011, there was an outbreak of more than 700 cases of measles in Quebec, mostly children who had not been immunized.

Measles is spread through droplets from the nose, mouth or throat of an infected person. It is highly contagious from four days before the appearance of the rash to four days after the rash first appears.

Among those families notified by public health officials were people who were in the CHEO emergency room several hours after the infected child.

Measles has a long incubation period. It can take between seven and 18 days before the appearance of symptoms, which include high fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and a rash that appears on the face three to seven days after the start of symptoms, spreading to the arms and legs.

However, the initial symptoms are not specific, and measles can be confused with other illnesses, Pim said.

Anyone with symptoms should be checked by a physician, but the hospital or medical office should be notified first.

Measles is rare in Ottawa, with six cases in 2010, and about one case a year otherwise, said Pim.

“Most physicians have never seen a case of measles.”

Karelle Kennedy, a spokeswoman for Gatineau Public Health, says public health officials in Gatineau have spoken to the infected child’s family. There is no reason to believe that people other than those already identified by CHEO have been exposed, she said.