An unvaccinated child in Kootenai County has been reported to have measles.
Panhandle Health District reports the case is the first one confirmed in the county since 1991. This comes a week after Coeur d’Alene reported detecting the virus in its wastewater.
Spokesperson Katherine Hoyer said the organization is working to identify how the child was infected with measles and contacting those potentially exposed.
“Knowing that we do have pockets of lower levels of vaccination rates within our community, we would expect that there are going to be more cases,” she said.
Because the highly contagious disease was eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, Hoyer said some physicians have never encountered measles before.
“This is a lot of what we plan and prepare for, “ she said, adding the district has been monitoring outbreaks in neighboring states and alerting local providers.
Cases have been reported in cases reported in 41 jurisdictions in the U.S., including Washington, Montana, Oregon and Wyoming.
“We weren't terribly surprised because of the rapid spread that we've been seeing in other states in the United States,” Hoyer said. “It wasn't an 'if' it was a 'when' we were going to get a measles case here, mostly because measles is such a highly contagious disease. And if you are unvaccinated, it's a 90% chance that you will contract the virus if you have come into contact with it."
In a press release Tuesday, the Panhandle Health District encouraged families to check their vaccination records.
“For most people, two childhood doses of vaccine is all they will ever need to protect themselves against measles for their lifetime,” the District wrote.
“The virus can stay in the air two hours after an infected person has left. Symptoms typically appear seven to 14 days after exposure and include high fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes, and a distinctive rash. While many recover without problems, measles can lead to serious complications, especially in very young children and people with weakened immune systems.”
In early August, the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention reported more than 1,300 cases of measles across the country, the highest count in 33 years. Thirteen percent of those confirmed cases have been hospitalized, most of them children.
