Skip to content
Health
Link copied to clipboard

First case of measles reported in Pennsylvania

More than 700 individuals in at least 22 states have recently been sickened with measles this year.

A poster released by Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is seen as experts answer questions regarding the spread of measles in the United States, where cases have reached a 25-year high. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
A poster released by Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is seen as experts answer questions regarding the spread of measles in the United States, where cases have reached a 25-year high. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)Read moreDamian Dovarganes / AP

The state’s first case of measles this year has been reported in Pittsburgh.

The Allegheny County Health Department reported an adult, who had not been vaccinated, contracted the illness while traveling internationally.

On Monday, the person was treated and released from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Shadyside emergency room and is recovering at home. The hospital is notifying and evaluating patients and staff who may have had contact with the patient.

Health officials say the case is not linked to any of the ongoing outbreaks across the country that have sickened more than 700 individuals in at least 22 states.

The person treated in Pittsburgh may have been contagious starting last Thursday (April 25). The Health Department is warning people who visited the Giant Eagle Market District or an Aldi at 5631 Baum Blvd. either Friday, April 26, or the Giant again on Sunday, April 28, when the measles patient visited those locations, that they may have been exposed to the highly contagious disease.

This year marks the largest number of measles cases reported in the U.S. since 1994, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. The disease was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000 but soon after reemerged.

In 2018, there were 372 cases of the disease, according to the CDC.

Most of this year’s cases of measles have been in unvaccinated populations. New York state has been particularly hard hit. Cases from two ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn and suburban Rockland County account for roughly three-quarters of the total number of reported illnesses throughout the country, according to the Associated Press.

The outbreak in the Pacific Northwest affected 53 public places, including schools, hospitals, airports, stores, and restaurants in both Washington and Oregon before it was declared contained. Ninety-three percent of the cases were in people under 18 and 86 percent of patients were unvaccinated.

Though highly effective, the measles vaccine doesn’t offer 100 percent protection. Adults who received the vaccine in the 1960s are urged to see their physician, as it is possible they received a version of the vaccine later found ineffective.

In New Jersey, there have been 14 confirmed measles cases reported as of April 23, including an outbreak in Ocean County, according to the New Jersey Department of Health.

The vaccine-preventable disease spreads through coughing or sneezing. The symptoms, which include the telltale rash, high fever, cough, and red watery eyes, appear one to three weeks after exposure.

People most at risk for the disease are those who refused vaccinations and infants less than 1 year who are too young to have been vaccinated. (The first dose of the MMR vaccine is recommended for children between 12 to 15 months.)

About one out of every 20 children infected with measles will get pneumonia and one out of 1,000 will develop encephalitis that can lead to seizures or leave the child deaf or with intellectual disabilities, according to the CDC. For every 1,000 children infected, one or two will die.

There have been no reported deaths from measles in 2019.