Pinal officials seek to stem measles cases

Health officials say they likely contained a measles case in San Manuel that spilled north into Pinal County from a rare outbreak of the highly contagious disease that began in Tucson.

An infant was diagnosed with measles May 16 by Pinal County officials.

The baby, in San Manuel, is showing no signs of potentially deadly complications from the disease.

Twenty-one people have been diagnosed with the disease in Pima County, an outbreak that began in February.

Officials have contacted 50 people who likely were around the San Manuel baby, according to Tom Schryer, director of Pinal County public health.

Most of those were either already immunized or had a history of and immunity to measles.

One person is showing symptoms, he said. Blood and urine samples were sent to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta to verify the potential case.

“It’s looking like it probably isn’t,” Schryer said. “They’re certainly not showing all the symptoms. We’ll know in the next day or two.”

“As far as Pinal County, we don’t have an outbreak. We have a case that’s coming from that outbreak,” he said.

Pinal County has a lower immunization rate for a range of diseases than Maricopa and Pima counties.

Some 40 percent of Pinal residents have the full range of immunizations, compared with 49 percent in Maricopa County and 44 percent in Pima County, according to 2007 statistics.

Heather Murphy, Pinal County spokeswoman, said Pinal is more susceptible to an outbreak because of that low immunization rate.

“There’s an increased population that’s potentially susceptible,” she said. “It’s mathematics.”

The measles outbreak could be reaching its end, said Schryer. The outbreak started after an infected Swiss citizen experienced symptoms and went to a Tucson emergency room.

The disease can be spread by sneezing and coughing — and health officials believe the ER visit was the source of the outbreak.

Since then, Pima health officials have “ringed” the disease in the same way as the case in San Manuel, by contacting people who may have been around an infected person. The Pima outbreak could be at its tail end, Schryer said.

The county is offering children free vaccinations and recommending parents do so on an accelerated schedule.

Children don’t normally receive a measles vaccine before their first birthday. However, health officials are recommending they be vaccinated at 6 months old and get booster shots 18 months later.

Even though Pinal County has an overall low rate of immunizations, this particular case with the infant is not a result of a missed vaccination, Murphy said.

“The child was not vaccinated and was not part of the population that would be vaccinated,” she said.

Schryer said that another part of the problem in Pinal County is the lack of physicians to care for a booming population. Those in the growing city of Maricopa, for instance, would likely travel to Chandler for the immunizations.

“Your kids absolutely need to be immunized. A lot of people had the measles or the chickenpox growing up and they think that childhood diseases are harmless. The data shows that one out of every 3,000 kids die of the measles.”

More information
Health officials advise those exhibiting symptoms of the measles to call a health care professional before going for an office visit or to an urgent care center, where the disease can be spread.

For information on measles and the locations of county clinics, call (888) 431-1311 or an information line at (866) 763-7252.