PORT ANGELES — Public health authorities have traced the movements of a man who was contagious with measles when he was admitted to Olympic Medical Center one week ago.
The unidentified middle-aged male from the Port Angeles area remained Saturday in OMC’s intensive care unit, where health officials said he was recuperating from the illness.
“We believe he is going to make a complete recovery,” said Dr. Tom Locke, health officer for Clallam and Jefferson counties.
Locke said Friday the Clallam County Department of Health and Human Services had sought doses of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine from other counties.
The department will conduct immunization clinics Monday and Tuesday at 111 E. Third St., Suite 1-A, Port Angeles. Call 360-417-2274 to schedule an appointment.
“We’re planning on those clinics for however long the need exists,” Locke said. “We’re trying to get 500 or so doses.”
As for tracing the man’s movements, “we’re proceeding with the initial-phase responses that a health department does,” Locke said, to determine what people, if any, should be quarantined, treated or vaccinated.
The locations are “anywhere we’ve determined he was inside the building and may have shared air,” he said.
One of the most contagious of diseases known, the measles virus can linger on surfaces or in the air for two hours after a contagious person has coughed, sneezed or touched objects.
“The risk of transmission in that kind of setting is very low, but it’s possible,” Locke said.
“We would expect anyone who had been exposed to measles at the same time [as the man] to be sick by now. They should actually have gotten sick and be recovered by now.”
However, Locke said, “now is the time we watch very carefully for what we call the secondary outbreak” among people he said should start feeling the effects of measles now.
Early symptoms of measles resemble colds or the flu, with fever, sneezing and coughing. Measles’ telltale rash shows up about four days after the onset of symptoms, Locke said.
“That’s when this usually gets people’s attention.”
If people suspect they have measles, they should not go directly to their doctor, clinic or emergency room but should call ahead.
If health care workers suspect a case of measles, the sufferer will be masked outside the facility and examined in isolation, Locke said, then sent home or hospitalized.
Initial reports of measles in the Peninsula Daily News wre heavily accessed by readers of the website at www.peninsuladailynews.com/, and Locke acknowledged the issue has generated a high degree of public interest.
“People are starting to wake up to the realization that having a lot of unvaccinated people in the community is not a good thing,” he said.
Although it nearly vanished in recent years and is regarded as a childhood illness, measles is a serious threat to infants, pregnant women, recipients of organ or bone marrow transplants, and people who take immunosuppressant drugs. Fatalities usually result from encephalitis.
In short, he said, “Measles can kill you.”
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Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com.
