Chicago-area measles cases put spotlight on day care centers
CHICAGO – Measles infections in five babies at a suburban Chicago day care center reveal a potential weak link in public-health efforts to contain the disease, officials said Friday, explaining that infants who are too young to be vaccinated and in close quarters are among the most vulnerable to the virus.
“They’re sort of like the canary in the mine,” said Dr. Tina Tan, an infectious disease specialist at Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital.
State regulations in Illinois and elsewhere generally require vaccinations for older children in day care centers, but measles shots are not recommended for children under age 1. And like most states, Illinois does not require vaccinations for day care center staffers.
“Unfortunately, there is no requirement. But this is on our radar,” said Melaney Arnold, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health.
The cases are among more than 100 nationwide this year, most of them linked with a Disneyland outbreak. Ten other young children at the suburban center were exposed and are being monitored for symptoms.
This year’s cases also include an infant at a Santa Monica, California, day care center that closed temporarily this week. Fourteen infants from that center have been quarantined at home for three weeks.
Dr. Julie Morita, acting commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said this year’s outbreaks highlight the major reasons for immunizations against a rare disease. The shots are not just for self-protection. They also provide what experts call “herd immunity” – protection for those too young or too sick to be vaccinated, including infants in day care.
“We have always felt like this was a vulnerable population … in a potentially risky setting because there are a lot of kids who are together,” Morita said.
Measles can cause a cough, runny nose and rash. Infants are vulnerable to rare but dangerous complications that include pneumonia, deafness, permanent brain damage and death.
Dr. Saad Omer, an Emory University vaccine specialist, offers this advice to parents with children in day care: “Unless there is an ongoing outbreak in the specific day care, I don’t see any reason for keeping your child at home. But make sure when they become eligible for vaccines, they get the vaccine on time, on schedule.”
Illinois authorities were seeking the source of the day care outbreak but said there was no evidence it’s linked with the Disneyland cases. Possible sources include unvaccinated older children or adults who recently traveled overseas.
Most U.S. measles cases in recent years stem from contact with someone who has been abroad, since the disease is still common in many countries. The highly contagious virus was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, but U.S. cases have been reported every year since then, including more than 600 last year.