Clark County Health Department Explains the Measles, Part 2
Tuesday, February 17th, 2015 -- 12:18 PM
-The U.S. has seen an increase in Measles cases for 2015.Many of the cases are linked back to a theme park in California where officials believe someone exposed to the disease overseas recently vacationed to.
Laura Betthauser, with the Clark County Health Department, provided more details about the recent outbreak scene around the country. (Please note, at the time of this interview, there were no possible cases reported in Wisconsin.)
She said, "Referring to the recent outbreak, this is the one associated with the amusement park in California, according to the CDC, from the beginning of January until now, 121 cases of Measles have been reported in the United States. And that's among 17 states. Of those 121 cases, 103 of those have been linked to that amusement park in California."
"It is important to note that no confirmed cases of Measles have been identified in Wisconsin at this time. As far as the source of the outbreak, no source for this outbreak has been identified, but the CDC speculates that it likely started from a traveler who became infected overseas with Measles and then visited the park while infectious. Of those cases associated with the outbreak, most were not vaccinated or did not know their vaccination status and a minority of them were vaccinated."
So far, two possible Measles cases were identified in Portage County, but one case tested has come back negative and the other case is still pending.
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