2 doses of measles vaccine recommended

FINDLAY — After last week's report of a confirmed case of measles in Hancock County, some community members have been seeking clarification about the protection offered by the measles vaccine. Laura Reinhart, a nurse practitioner and director of nursing at Hancock Public Health, said that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine provides long-lasting protection against measles. "Two doses of MMR vaccine are about 97% effective at preventing measles," she said. "Talk to your healthcare providers about the MMR vaccine, especially if planning to travel. Anyone who is not protected is at risk for measles." Tara Smith, Ph.D., a Hancock County native and professor of epidemiology at Kent State University's College of Public Health and Health Sciences, encouraged people to confirm their vaccination status. Two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine are recommended to best protect someone against measles. Decades ago, children normally received just one dose of vaccine. Smith said individuals born from the late 1960s through the early 1980s may or may not have received two doses. Many had to get caught up when they entered college, she noted. One dose is considered about 93% effective, she said, but two doses increase that protection. One question posed on Facebook in the wake of last week's announcement was what to do if you can't find your vaccination records. Public health leaders advise checking with your healthcare provider. If you aren't certain if you've had one dose or two, it is generally safe to go ahead and get a shot, even if it might end up being a third dose, Smith said. She advised people who are immunocompromised to talk to their physician before doing this. With other viruses, like flu and COVID, the usual public health recommendation is to get a shot each fall, to protect against whatever strain is predicted to be circulating most widely that winter. However, with measles, two doses throughout your lifetime are all you need for protection, Smith said. Smith said measles vaccination protects individuals very well, and a vaccinated person is highly unlikely to become sick. If you are exposed to the virus, your body will mount a response quickly enough that the virus can't replicate and make you sick, she said. Reinhart and Hancock Public Health colleagues, in a joint emailed statement, added that, in the rare instance where an immunized person becomes ill, the symptoms are generally milder and they are less likely to spread the disease to other people. "If a person is exposed, the risk of getting measles is high for people who do not get the MMR vaccine," they wrote. "Ninety percent of exposed persons will get infected if not adequately protected. The vaccine keeps children from missing school or childcare; and parents from missing work to care for exposed or sick children. Vaccination also limits the size, duration and spread of an outbreak. Talk to your doctor to see what options are best for you." "Measles is highly contagious. The virus is spread by tiny droplets that go into the air when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks, or by direct contact with secretions from an infected person," Reinhart said. "These tiny droplets can stay suspended in the air for up to two hours after the infected person leaves the space. If one person has measles, up to nine out of 10 people nearby will become infected if they are not protected." For this reason, Hancock Public Health urges anyone with concerns about possible measles infection to call their healthcare provider, urgent care or hospital emergency department before going there. This helps the facility prepare for your arrival to reduce potential exposure risk to other patients and healthcare workers. Some people who are immunocompromised cannot safely get vaccinated, which is why it's so important for others around them to get their vaccines. "They require people around them to be vaccinated, so basically you get a wall of protection around those individuals," Smith said. Hancock Public Health reported a confirmed case of measles in Findlay on Oct. 2. It was the third case in the area within two weeks, following a case reported in Bowling Green on Sept. 29 and one in Lucas County on Sept. 18. Hancock Public Health has reported no additional confirmed cases in Hancock County this week. Staff have been following up with all contacts they identified through contact tracing and all responses to a survey regarding possible exposure. They are also continuing to share education on their website and Facebook page. Wood County Health Department's most recent update, posted Monday, states that the department continues to monitor the situation and no additional cases have been identified. "Anyone with questions about their individual health, symptoms or vaccination history should contact their healthcare provider," states the report. "Thank you, Wood County, for continuing to work with us as we protect the health of our community." Sarah Velliquette, health communication specialist/public information officer with the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, confirmed in a Friday email that the monitoring period for those who might have been exposed to the Lucas County individual ended Sunday and the health department has not received reports of other cases in Lucas County. Smith noted that this is the largest year for measles in the United States in about 35 years. Pennsylvania, the current epicenter, now has recorded more than 1,100 confirmed cases. On Monday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state disaster emergency, the first time a state had issued an emergency order since measles cases began rising last year. Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, meaning the disease was no longer continuously spreading in the country. "It's extremely disappointing from a public health perspective that we (now have) these outbreaks, because we had eliminated this virus. ... We controlled the most infectious virus known to man for 25 years," Smith said. While the United States occasionally experienced small outbreaks that were brought in from other countries, they were always controlled until now, she said. "And now we do not have that … For the population at large, it's an added stressor that we shouldn't have, that we don't need," she said. "It's hard for me to watch this," she added. "Twenty percent of the cases in Pennsylvania have been hospitalized, so people are suffering, children are suffering." The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that about 30% of all measles cases will result in complications, and approximately 1 in 1,000 people infected with measles will die. Smith added that in addition to the immediate risks, measles can cause serious complications over the long term. These include a possibly compromised immune system for years after measles infection. Recent studies have found that measles can destroy the immune system's "memory" from previous infections. This means a person who would previously be considered protected against an illness like chickenpox or influenza might have significantly fewer antibodies after contracting measles, meaning that their immune system is less likely to recognize those other illnesses and respond appropriately the next time. And children who get measles as infants have an increased risk of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), a very rare, but fatal disease of the central nervous system which generally develops seven to 10 years after measles infection. "Even when this ends, at some point, which I hope it will, we're still not in the clear for years to come from this outbreak," Smith said.