Health officials warned Thursday that people who were at Los Angeles International Airport and Children’s Hospital of Orange County in recent days may have been exposed to measles.
There was an infected airman at Los Angeles International Airport the day before Thanksgiving, and an infant infected with measles was in an Orange County hospital after the holiday. It was not immediately clear if this was a single person.
People most at risk of getting sick are people who have never had measles and have not been vaccinated. Infants are at increased risk of highly contagious diseases.
People at risk for severe outcomes also include pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems.
The measles patient arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on Qatar Airways Flight 739 from Doha, the capital of Qatar, at 12:35 p.m. on November 27.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health says anyone who was at Los Angeles International Airport’s Tom Bradley International Terminal (also known as Terminal B) between 12:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. that day was infected with measles through contact with a traveler. He said there may be a risk of
Separately, the Orange County Health Department announced that a measles patient – an infant who had returned from a trip abroad – had visited the Orange County Children’s Hospital emergency room three times in recent days. Monday from 2pm to 10pm. Tuesdays from 5:30pm to 9:00pm
The outbreak comes as measles infections are on the rise nationwide, with 280 cases reported nationwide as of November 21, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This compares to 59 measles cases reported in all of 2023.
Of the measles cases reported nationally so far this year, 41% were in children under 5 years of age, and 31% of these were in children between 5 and 19 years of age.
Nearly nine in 10 measles cases occur in unvaccinated people, and 112 people have been hospitalized. Of those hospitalized, 60 were under the age of five.
According to the CDC, “Before the introduction of the measles vaccine, there were an estimated 48,000 hospitalizations and 400 to 500 deaths each year in the United States.”
The CDC recommends that children receive their first dose of measles vaccine between ages 12 and 15 months and the second dose between ages 4 and 6 years. Two doses of the vaccine have a 97% chance of preventing you from getting the disease. This vaccine is known as MMR and protects against measles as well as mumps and rubella.
“The MMR vaccine is very safe. The benefits far outweigh the risks. Side effects are usually mild, such as soreness at the injection site,” the Orange County Health Department said.
The Orange County Health Department said infants under 12 months of age who travel internationally should be vaccinated early, between 6 and 11 months of age.
Unvaccinated people are at risk of developing measles 7 to 21 days after exposure. Measles is spread through the air and can remain on surfaces and surfaces long “long after the infected person has left,” the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said.
“An infected person can spread the disease up to four days before the measles rash appears and four days after the rash appears,” the agency said. “You can become infected if someone else breathes contaminated air or touches an infected surface and then touches their eyes, nose, or mouth.”
Symptoms of measles include high fever (sometimes over 104 degrees) and cough. Runny nose; red and watery eyes. There’s also a rash, according to the CDC. Especially in children under 5, serious health complications such as pneumonia, which is the most common cause of death from measles in young children, and swelling of the brain, which can cause convulsions and cause hearing loss and intellectual disability. disease may occur.
According to the CDC, for every 1,000 children infected with measles, about 1 to 3 will die.
Measles can also cause long-term complications such as SSPE, which stands for subacute sclerosing panencephalitis. SSPE is rare but can occur 7 to 10 years after recovery from measles and can cause fatal central nervous system disease.
According to the CDC, people who contract measles before age 2 may be at increased risk of developing SSPE.
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