(RepublicanJournal.org) – A Philadelphia child with measles exposed everyone at their daycare after their parents failed to follow quarantine instructions. The outbreak that followed led to further exposures at two local hospitals, where one of the patients was treated. At least eight people have caught the illness so far, but hospitals are on alert that the number could rise as more exposures surface.
Montgomery County officials issued a press release, last updated on January 11, warning residents of possible exposure to the infection at two medical facilities. The notice states that someone with measles went to Holy Redeemer Pediatric Urgent Care-Meadowbrook on January 3 during a roughly four-hour period, ending at 7:30 p.m.They went from there to Jefferson Abington Hospital Emergency Department, potentially exposing anyone who was at that location between 7 p.m. and 9:40 p.m.
Previous exposures may have occurred at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, according to NBC News. The initial patient apparently contracted the virus while visiting another unspecified country. Three people, two of whom had been admitted to the hospital for other conditions, caught it from there. The parents of one patient then failed to quarantine their child, sending them to the Multicultural Education Station daycare facility on December 20 and 21. Four more people caught the infection from that exposure.
So far, four people have had to be hospitalized due to the severity of their cases. Measles is highly contagious, with a roughly 90% transfer rate to exposed people who aren’t already immune, so hospitals in the area are sending out warnings to limit further waves of cases.
Montgomery County shared a fact sheet on measles from the CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Academy of Family Physicians. It notes that the tell-tale rash usually appears 3 to 5 days after the initial symptoms, which can include cough, runny nose, watery eyes, and a high fever. The virus is reportedly capable of staying in the air long after a patient has been in a room, infecting others for up to two hours after they’ve left.
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