PORT ANGELES — Clallam County public health officials have contacted people known to have met a man diagnosed with measles while he was contagious.

As of today, they had traced what Christina Hurst, public health programs manager for Clallam County Health and Human Services, called “exposure sites” visited by the middle-aged man who remained in Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles.

Hurst said individuals known to have been in contact with the measles patient had been warned about the illness.

Hurst said the department hoped to provide to the public soon with a list of public places such as stores or restaurants the man had visited while he was contagious.

Residents then can call the department for advice at 360-417-2274.

The patient no longer is infectious but remains at OMC with what Hurst called “underlying health issues.”

The unidentified man went to OMC’s emergency room on Sunday. Tests confirmed that he had measles. Officials have not determined where he got the disease.

Some Washington state cases have been traced to the so-called Disneyland outbreak of late December; others, to travelers returning through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport from South America.

Meanwhile, the hospital announced that 99 percent of its personnel have been immunized for measles.

One health care worker who had not been vaccinated and who was in the emergency room when the man was hospitalized has been sent home until the contagion period has passed, OMC officials said.

——————–

PORT ANGELES — Measles has reared its unwelcome spotty head on the North Olympic Peninsula.

A case appeared Sunday in the emergency room of Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles, Dr. Scott Kennedy told hospital commissioners Wednesday.

The unidentified middle-aged man was admitted to the hospital, said Kennedy, OMC’s chief medical officer. The man remains there, although he is no longer infectious.

Meanwhile, public health officials are “intensely working now to try to detect any potential contacts [of the ill man] in the community,” Kennedy said.

The contagious period for the disease begins four days before symptoms appear and lasts for four days afterward.

“We’re out of that window now,” Kennedy said.

One health care worker who was in the emergency room when the man arrived had not been immunized and so will be isolated from the workplace until Feb. 24, reflecting what Kennedy called “the abundance of caution” with which measles is treated.

Beyond that individual, “we don’t expect to see any additional cases emerging” from OMC, Kennedy said. Nurses and doctors caring for the patient have been immunized.

The Port Angeles case could be the fourth confirmed in Washington state, Kennedy said.

No cases have been reported in Jefferson County. More than 100 cases in the U.S. have been linked to the so-called Disneyland outbreak in California in late December.

It was unknown if the Port Angeles case was related to that outbreak or came from contact with a traveler who had not been vaccinated but who had visited a measles-prone region, Kennedy said.

Some of Washington’s cases had been linked to travelers from South America passing through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, said

Dr. Tom Locke, health officer for Clallam and Jefferson counties.

Measles is characterized in its early stages by a fever as high as 105 degrees, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes (conjunctivitis), Kennedy said.

It is followed by a rash of small spots that may begin in the mouth or on the face and spread to the body’s lower extremities. The illness may last for several days more.

The disease can be fatal but rarely in developed counties, where one to three cases per 1,000 results in death, usually from a brain infection, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Symptoms may not appear for as long as 14 days after exposure, the CDC said.

Kennedy cautioned people who suspect they have measles or think they may have been exposed to call their health care providers and ask for advice.

Immunization

He urged parents to have their children immunized against measles, saying that suspected links between the measles vaccine and autism “have been disproved, basically.”

According to Locke, people born before 1957 are presumed to be immune to measles. Those born in 1957 or later should have at least one dose of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine.

A blood test can determine if a person is immune.

Available vaccine is prioritized for those at highest risk of exposure, Locke said. As supplies improve, anyone who is a candidate for an

MMR shot should get one, he said. For more information, call 360-417-2274.

“Measles is an airborne illness,” Kennedy said. “It is highly communicable, even more than the flu.”

As for the flu, Kennedy said Wednesday, no new deaths have been reported on the Peninsula, and positive results for influenza tests at the hospital have slightly declined.

Five persons have died of influenza complications at Olympic Medical Center. All the deaths have been of elderly individuals who were chronically ill.

The flu season will last for “at least four to six more weeks,” Kennedy said.

________

Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com