Measles in Grant County (updated 7/22/08)

On April 28, 2008, the Grant County Health District (GCHD) reported eight suspected measles cases from a single household to the Washington State Department of Health. Three members of this family, one of whom was the index patient in the household, attended a large event called the Generation Church Conference in Kirkland, Washington, during the likely exposure period for the index, whose rash onset was April 12.

Each of eight children from the Grant County household has had a rash illness during the previous 2–3 weeks. Neither parent became ill. The other seven children in the household, all unvaccinated, became ill after the first child’s illness, with rash onsets during April 18–21. Five of the children recovered without incident, but three of them were taken to their health-care provider for evaluation because of persistent severe symptoms with clinical evidence of pneumonia. The health-care provider reported the rash illnesses to GCHD as probable measles. On the evening of April 29, serum samples from these three children tested positive for measles-specific IgM antibody at the Washington State Public Health Laboratories.

It is possible that the first member of the Grant County family to become ill and an another child who lived in a separate household and became ill with measles a day later  were exposed to measles while at the conference in King County in late March, but Public Health – Seattle & King County has not confirmed this connection. This conference is held annually and hosts thousands of students from junior high through university ages. Preliminary information obtained from the conference organizers by Public Health–Seattle and King County indicated that approximately 3000 persons attended from 12 states, and several countries including Japan, Canada, and Mexico. None of these countries or states has since reported confirmed measles cases in persons who attended this conference.  As a precaution, Public Health worked with conference organizers to notify all conference attendees and staff that they might have been exposed to measles.

In Grant County, however, a total of 11 additional cases have been identified, bringing the total number of Grant County measles cases identified between late April and early June to 19.  All but one of these illnesses occurred in minor children between the ages of 9 months and 18 years.  There were no hospitalizations or deaths among these measles cases.

The date of rash onset for the most recent case was May 30.  At this time more than two maximum (21-day) incubation periods has passed since a measles case is known to have occurred in Grant County or in any other jurisdiction related to this outbreak.  While the Washington State Communicable Disease Epidemiology Section and Public Health Laboratories, along with Grant County Health District are poised to assure rapid identification of any additional measles cases that occur so that measles control activities, if needed, can be initiated quickly, we are cautiously optimistic that this measles outbreak may now be over.

Additional information about measles is may be found at the following web sites: 

Immunization Program:  http://www.doh.wa.gov/cfh/Immunize/default.htm
Measles Fact Sheet:  http://www.doh.wa.gov/EHSPHL/factsheet/measles.htm
Grant County Health District: http://www.granthealth.org