Arizona tracking hundreds of people after possible measles exposure

Public health officials in Arizona are monitoring 1,000 people, including 195 children who may have been exposed to measles, stemming from the outbreak that originated in Disneyland or Disney California Adventure Park.

A Maricopa County woman has been diagnosed with measles after exposure at a Phoenix-area medical center to a family of four who were linked to the Disneyland outbreak, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. Officials suspect the woman could have then exposed more individuals at the medical center during a 2-day period. As of Jan. 28, there have been seven confirmed cases of measles in Arizona, according to the department.

Local health officials have recommended that all children who were possibly exposed and have not received at least one dose of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine not attend school/day care for the 21-day incubation period of the virus to avoid further spread. Also, potentially exposed adults who were born after 1957 and either have not previously contracted measles or received at least one measles vaccine have been advised not to attend work for the same time period.

“This is a critical point in this outbreak,” Will Humble, MPH, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, said in a blog post. “If the public health system and medical community are able to identify every single susceptible case and get them into isolation, we have a chance of stopping this outbreak here. However, if we miss any potential cases and some of them go to a congregate setting with numerous susceptible contacts, we could be in for a long and protracted outbreak.”

In addition to the 52 cases of measles among California residents and five in Arizona linked to the Disneyland outbreak, as of Jan. 28, there have been three cases in Utah, two cases in Washington and one case in Colorado, Nebraska, Oregon and Mexico, according to the California Department of Public Health.