2 new measles cases in Las Vegas, one a Strip worker
Two additional cases of measles, one a young child and the other an adult who works in a restaurant at the MGM Grand, have been identified, Southern Nevada Health District officials said Wednesday.
The most recent case is the child whose illness was confirmed Wednesday. Health officials don’t think the child’s is related to the other three cases. The child had previously received a single dose of the measles vaccine, which requires boosters.
The other person who contracted measles is an under-immunized adult whose case was confirmed Tuesday. That person is employed at Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House inside MGM Grand. A health district spokeswoman could not give an estimate on the number of people who might have been exposed to measles via the worker.
The cases this week bring to four the number of confirmed cases of measles in Clark County this year, and none one has died from the disease here. These were the first confirmed cases in the county since 2011.
Because measles can be highly infectious, the health district is advising people who dined at the restaurant after 4 p.m. from Feb. 4 through Feb.7 to review their immunization status and contact their health care providers if they are not fully immunized against measles and have not already had the disease.
In addition, they should contact their health care providers if they develop rash with fever or other symptoms measles-like within three weeks after their visit to the restaurant. It is recommended that anyone with symptoms contact a health care provider’s office before entering a health care facility to allow the facility to make appropriate arrangements to ensure the illness is not spread.
The Emeril’s worker also attended the Las Vegas Pet Expo at Cashman Center between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, and the health district is advising the same precautions for anyone who attended that event.
MGM Resorts International is cooperating with the restaurant and the health district in the measles investigation, according to a company spokeswoman.
Clark County’s first confirmed case of the year occurred in a vaccinated Valley High School student, and, to date, no additional cases of measles have been identified among classmates. The period of concern for developing disease from being exposed to that student has ended.
A second measles infection occurred in an unvaccinated adult in a case unrelated to the student but which might be linked to the Disneyland outbreak. Last week, Dr. Joe Iser, chief medical officer of the Southern Nevada Health District, said that virus has a similar genetic makeup to the Disneyland strain. Health district staff continue to await further test results.
Any speculation on whether either of this week’s cases are linked to other outbreaks would be premature at this point, Iser said Wednesday.
Health district staff are seeking individuals who might have had contact with the older patient in the earlier case, Iser said.
Measles can be spread to susceptible people and can cause pneumonia, encephalitis, seizures and death. Most U.S. residents are protected. Known as herd immunity, or the resistance to a particular infection because a very high percentage of people have been vaccinated or previously exposed, most people born before 1957 had the disease in childhood and younger people are routinely inoculated.
Measles is very infectious and is communicated by coughing and sneezing the virus into the air. Patients take between seven to 18 days to develop symptoms, but they are infectious and can pass the virus to others from four days before to four days after the onset of the rash. People sick with measles, therefore, should not mix with others and remain isolated from anyone who is not immunized or under immunized.
Children should receive two doses of MMR vaccine — the first at 12-15 months and the second between the ages of 4 and 6 — so they are protected.
In addition to measles, experts also have confirmed three cases of whooping cough, an infectious disease caused by a bacteria for which immunization also provides a defense, according to the health district. The whooping cough case has not resulted in any deaths, but the number of flu deaths in Southern Nevada has risen to 10, and the number of confirmed cases is at 432.
Contact Steven Moore at smoore@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4563.
