PORT ANGELES — A Clallam County preschooler with a rash suffered an adverse reaction to the measles vaccine but did not have the disease, public health authorities said Monday.
The case was a possible fifth case of measles on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Samples sent to the state laboratory last week from Jefferson County also tested negative for measles, said Lisa McKenzie, communicable disease program coordinator for the county public health department, on Monday.
No cases have been confirmed in Jefferson County.
No measles cases have been confirmed on the North Olympic Peninsula since the last week of February, when the fourth case was diagnosed.
The child who suffered a reaction to the vaccine itched and had a fever for two to three days, but had not caught measles.
That meant the preschooler was not contagious, according to Dr. Jeanette Stehr-Green, Clallam County public health officer.
The child also was not liable to the complications that measles, rarely, can cause, she said.
The Clallam County Department of Health and Human Services received test results Monday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Ga., that showed that the child’s rash was a reaction to receiving the measles vaccine.
About one in 20 — 5 percent — of those who are vaccinated with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine develop a skin rash and fever, public health officials said.
The county public health department has given 458 vaccinations against the disease since early February through Monday, Stehr-Green said.
“In addition, many local providers have vaccinated a number of children,” she said.
Having one averse reaction out of that number is not surprising, but “because of the recent cases of measles in our community, we had to treat this rash as if it were a case,” until a test proved otherwise, said Iva Burks, director of the public health department.
“The possibility of a mild reaction should not discourage people from getting vaccinated,” Stehr-Green said.
“The benefits of vaccination for both the individual and the community substantially outweigh the occasional reaction to the vaccine,” she added.
Measles usually means that the sufferer stays home, very ill, for at least a week and then recovers and is therafter immune to the disease.
But in rare cases, measles can cause complications.
One in 20 with measles develop pneumonia, and one in 1,000 get encephalitis, a swelling of the brain. Of the latter, one to three people die, Stehr-Green said.
Health officials remain on alert for more cases.
The two most recent cases of measles in the county were identified before they were contagious and stayed home to reduce the chance of exposure of unvaccinated persons.
However, “we’re being cautious and so we’re on alert for additional cases,” Stehr-Green said.
If no more cases are confirmed, “we’ll be in the clear on April 6th,” she added.
Measles is highly contagious and spread through the air. It can be caught just by walking into a room where someone with the disease has been in the last couple of hours.
Seven cases have been confirmed in Washington state. Two were in Grays Harbor County and one in Whatcom County.
The CDC says that from Jan. 1 to last Friday, 173 people from 17 states and the District of Columbia were reported to have measles.
No-cost vaccinations clinics for both children and adults are avialable in Clallam County. They are offered for children only in Jefferson County.
An immunization clinic is set from 9 a.m. to noon today in Room J-47 at Peninsula College, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd., Port Angeles.
Another clinic is set from
1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday at Health and Human Services’ Public Health Section, 111 E. Third St., Port Angeles.
Call 360-417-2274 for an appointment. Walk-ins will be seen but could face a waiting time.
In Port Townsend, clinics are at the Jefferson County Public Health Clinic at 615 Sheridan St. and Jefferson Healthcare hospital’s primary care clinic at 915 Sheridan St.
The county clinic operates from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and offers the MMR vaccine on a walk-in basis.
Jefferson Healthcare’s clinic is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Vaccinations aren’t available for walk-ins. People must schedule them by calling 360-379-8031.
The vaccine is free to children, but both the public health and hospital clinic charge an administrative fee billable to insurance. The fee is on a sliding scale.
Vaccine for children is purchased by the state while the county buys vaccine for adults in Jefferson County. Vaccine for adults is billed to insurance.
For more Clallam County information, see http://tinyurl.com/PDN-measlesalerts.
For more in Jefferson County, see www.jeffersoncountypublichealth.org.