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Oregon’s first measles case of the year has been reported in Portland in an unvaccinated adult. The Oregon Health Authority warns that unvaccinated individuals are now at risk, with the virus confirmed in the state.
An unvaccinated adult in the Portland area who recently returned from international travel is the state’s first reported case of measles this year, the Oregon Health Authority said Tuesday.
The person developed symptoms June 16 and was hospitalized three days later with a rash and conjunctivitis. Health officials say there’s no known exposure at the hospital, and the case is not linked to other U.S. outbreaks.
The exposure is limited to the Portland International Airport and a Safeway in Lake Oswego, according to Paul R. Cieslak, medical director for communicable diseases and immunizations at the health authority’s Public Health Division.
While that minimizes risk from the individual, the extent of transmission to others who were nearby is unknown. That means health officials can’t rule out whether people are unknowingly carrying the virus elsewhere.
“The case that we know about had limited exposures in the Portland metro area, certainly, if anybody who was in one of those areas contracts measles, that person can, you know, start a chain of transmission, and we may see more cases,” Cieslak told reporters in a news conference Tuesday.
“All these unvaccinated people are going to be at risk,” he said, “going from the person that they don’t even know has measles, or the person may not even know himself that he has measles.”
Measles is a highly contagious airborne virus.
Oregon has one of the highest rates of nonmedical vaccine exemptions among kindergartners in the nation, Cieslak said. These exemptions allow parents to opt their children out of required vaccinations for cultural, political or religious reasons. In Lane County, as in the rest of the state, exemption rates have reached record highs — weakening community immunity and raising the risk of outbreaks like measles.
Currently, 90% of children ages 19 months through 5 years in Lane County are up to date on their first measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine — short of the 95% coverage needed for herd immunity, the threshold that helps prevent outbreaks from spreading.
Pediatric clinics in Eugene and Springfield have spent months preparing for the possibility of measles.
Doctors urge patients to call ahead if they have a rash or believe they’ve been exposed, rather than walking in, to avoid exposing others.
“If the proper precautions are taken in the health care setting, we can really eliminate the risk of transmission,” Cieslak said.
