It’s probably been at least 14 years since Louisville had a known measles case, according to Dr. Kris Bryant, a pediatric infectious disease specialist.
Bryant, who works at Norton Women’s and Children’s Hospital, which received the measles patient over the weekend, said the adolescent patient recently traveled abroad to a place where measles is spreading.
She said the child is not hospitalized, but could not say more due to privacy laws.
There have already been more than a dozen measles cases in Kentucky this year, Louisville officials said Tuesday. At the same time, health departments have noted outbreaks across the country as more and more people choose not to vaccinate their children against the potentially deadly disease.
Bryant said the measles vaccine is safe and effective.
“If there are people in the community who are like, ‘I’m not sure if I’m immunized. I want to be protected against measles,’ because we know there are measles cases in Kentucky, today is a good day to get immunized,” she said.
Mayor Craig Greenberg said, of the dozen active cases in Kentucky, 11 patients were not vaccinated and one had only received a single dose. He said the local health department and Jefferson County Public Schools can help people get information about vaccines.
He said Louisville’s Department of Public Health and Wellness is reaching out to people who may have been in contact with the infected child.
“There is a group of people who we will be asking to isolate, and the reason for that is that measles is an incredibly highly contagious virus,” he said.
The Centers for Disease Control says measles can be dangerous, especially for vulnerable groups like young children and people with weak immune systems. Symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes. As the disease progresses, people may experience white spots inside the mouth and, later, a skin rash.
