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- Measles vaccine
The Vermont Department of Health confirmed on Tuesday that a person visiting the state as part of an international program has tested positive for measles. It’s the state’s first case of the highly contagious virus since 2018.
The person was among a group of 26 travelers, mostly teenagers, who were exposed during an international flight to Atlanta. State officials say they learned of the exposure on April 10 and asked the group to quarantine until they could determine whether anyone was infected.
While the risk to members of the public remains low, the health department said there is a “limited possibility” of exposure at the hotel where some of the travelers were staying.
Officials are encouraging anyone who was inside the Hampton Inn in Colchester on Wednesday, April 17, before 3:45 p.m. to confirm they’ve been vaccinated. Those people should also monitor themselves for symptoms through May 8.
“The department has been working closely with the Hampton Inn management, which has been cooperative throughout the response, including to provide information to known guests and visitors,” the health department said in a press release. “There is no ongoing risk of measles associated with the hotel.”
Symptomatic people should stay home, consider wearing a mask around others and contact their health care provider.
A respiratory virus, measles can cause serious illness, with symptoms typically beginning with a cough, runny nose, watery eyes and a high fever that may spike to higher than 104 degrees. A rash of spots then breaks out on the head and face before spreading to the rest of the body.
The virus is spread through coughing or sneezing and can stay in the air for up to two hours. Measles has no proven treatments, but the virus can be prevented with the MMR — measles, mumps and rubella — vaccine.
The news comes as cases of measles have been rising in the U.S.
as vaccination rates decline.
During the first three months of 2024, the U.S. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control reported more than 100 cases across seven outbreaks. That’s nearly twice the figures from all of last year, though it is far lower than 2019, when more than 1,200 were infected, most of whom were children. There have also been at least 50 confirmed cases this year in Québec, including 20 in Montréal.
Many of the 2024 cases in the U.S. involved unvaccinated children who traveled to other countries, according to the CDC. About one in five unvaccinated people who are infected end up hospitalized, and as many as one in 20 children with the virus develops pneumonia.