Great. My partner says they had two people come in to his treatment center with measles.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

Suburb of Chicago.

At least one was a vaccinated young adult.

The employees are all wearing masks.

Now I have lots of questions (we will be asking the doc).

Do we stay away from our 2 year old downstairs neighbor (she has had first vax)? Probably definitely our 6 month old nephew. What about my partner's 70 year old mom with some recent health issues?

Booster shots for us? We are both vaccinated but I don't know when the last booster was for me.

My downstairs neighbor is going to flip out when and if we tell her. She's already worried about her daycare.

I'm not worried about me. Because I'm strong like bull. I'm more worried about people around me/us. Especially kids and elderly.

[truebrit71]

1. Which suburb? I know that Palatine has a day-care that reported 5 cases...

...

[Hassin Bin Sober]

2. Not sure if I should say the suburb name. But it is in the general vicinity.

I'm sure I will be officially notified as family. But right now I should probably remain vague.

[greatauntoftriplets]

3. WGN very briefly reported a confirmed case in Lake County.

That's all they said.

[PeaceNikki]

4. You should talk to your PCP about getting titers drawn to check for your level of immunity.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

5. I was thinking of just getting a vax or booster at the local Walgreens.

Probably quicker and cheaper. My doc is usually two weeks out. And he'll yell at me because I haven't been in 6 years

My partner is getting more info today.

[PeaceNikki]

6. Yeah, likely cheaper and quicker. Good luck!

I've been following that cluster since I am just north of the border in WI. I also used to live in Schaumburg so I have a lot of friends in that neck of the woods.

Stay safe!

[HappyMe]

7. That may be the best plan.

You may have to stay away from the little kids and your partner's elderly mom for a bit.

I'm sure your partner will have the info about this.

[jeff47]

19. It takes time for the vaccine to work.

Getting it now won't be harmful, but it won't protect you if you were not vaccinated.

If you got 2 doses of the MMR shot (today's standard protocol), then there's a 2% chance the vaccine didn't work.
If you got 1 dose of the MMR shot (I don't know when the protocol changed), then there's a 10% chance the vaccine didn't work.

The incubation period for measles is about 12 days, so if you feel fine after two weeks (and were not exposed again) then you are probably fine. You may want to stay away from the 6-month-old and the 70-year-old for those two weeks.

If either of you feel like you are getting a cold, call your doctor and see how they want to handle it - some prefer to control where you go in their office to avoid exposing others.

If you catch it, the way you can spread it is through sneezing or coughing. The virus would be in the microscopic droplets you spray while doing so. Wearing a mask would help to catch those droplets, but is not complete protection for those around you. The virus can live for a few hours on surfaces, so your apartment would be "safe" for an unvaccinated person a while after you're healthy again. But wash everything you can once you are healthy again.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

22. Thanks!

Yeah, I didn't think an updated shot would help immediately. I'm just wondering if I should be extra careful if he is going to have a bunch of patients rolling through his clinic.

We are supposed to see his mom and the 6 month old next weekend. We can easily steer clear of the kid but not the mom as we will be staying at her house.

2 percent I can live with, but 10 percent, I don't know. I'd hate to get somebody sick. I just have no idea what regime I had. My family doctor I had up until college is long gone and I'm pretty sure I never received anything in the last 20 years.

I received a meningitis vax several years ago when a local gay bartender died. That operation was touted as a successful test of chicago's ability to mobilize the public health apparatus. I also got vaccinated for hepatitis after a buddy of mine told me his nightmare experience (I ran, not walked to the doctor).

[jeff47]

25. Forgot to add an important thing

You have to get sick first before you can spread it. So your partner probably didn't give it to you.

Measles starts with cold/flu symptoms. The distinctive rash can take up to 4 days to show up after the cold/flu symptoms.

[3catwoman3]

28. You have to catch it before you can spread it, but...

...as with many illness, people can be contagious before they have much in the way of obvious symptoms. The info below if from a state health department:

A person can spread measles from four days before through four days after the appearance of the rash. A person with measles should stay home from school or work while they are contagious. Special care should be taken to avoid contact with babies younger than 12–15 months (they are too young to have been vaccinated) and pregnant women.

[jeff47]

29. They will have symptoms. Just not the rash.

They'll have typical cold/flu symptoms.

[HereSince1628]

8. You know, for years there have been hundreds of cases of measles per year

And masks, well they don't really help a whole damned lot, because who wears masks at the store when they are infected but feeling OK in the 4 days before they feel sick?

So far although the numbers are getting into the hundreds the numbers really still represent very very small fractions of society.

Live your life mostly normally. You will be contacted if that changes.

Yep. Illinois Public Health, despite being part of slandered Illinois gov't, is really pretty much first world public health.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

10. They are wearing masks while in the treatment center.

I guess it can linger in the air for two hours.

I'm not too worried about it. Although, my partner is minus a spleen as of two years ago (he had a tumor on his pancreas removed so they took the spleen). He had to get a whole bunch of vax at the time.

My neighbor will probably flee the building with her kid. I'm only half joking.

[HereSince1628]

11. Unfortunately there is always the lag between exposure and realization

of a risk.

And when people leave work, regardless of the risk...they take off the mask and blend into the mass of folks intermixing in retail and public spaces... That's sort of fundamental to how people see protective equipment. Is it protecting ME or is it protecting THEM FROM ME?

It's hard to deny it's sort of both.

Still I think the advice is the same...follow protocols at work. Live your life aware, but mostly normally.

If something changes infection control at the workplace, and the county and the state public health offices will be letting you know.

[Pacifist Patriot]

12. According to the CDC...

there have only been 5 years in the last 14 when measles cases even broke 100 for the year. This graphic is pretty chilling in it's implications.



I agree with you though. Live life normally until you hear otherwise.

[HereSince1628]

13. Ok, I could have, maybe should have, said total cases vs confirmed cases.

It changes little.

Measles transmission is indeed mostly interrupted by encountering inoculated immunocompetent members of the population. But it isn't zero.


The actual numbers very likely are larger, within a factor of 10, than the lab confirmed cases. I suspect that an average of hundreds ++ cases over the past decade isn't wrong.

[MohRokTah]

14. You would suspect wrong.

But keep trying.

[HereSince1628]

15. No, I looked at the reported cases and then added likely unreported casres

I think I'm actually pretty close.

[MohRokTah]

16. Where, pray tell, did you get "likely unreported casres"???

[HereSince1628]

17. Not every case is lab confirmed per PHYLIP reporting requirements...

somewhere from 30% to 70% more than what is reported is commonly expected.
s
So if you look at the data which, btw, shows a rising trend...you end up near hundreds per year as an average over the last decade

[MohRokTah]

18. You seem to be just pulling numbers out of thin air. Give me the peer reviewed study.

Give me a link to something where you're coming up with hundreds of cases.

[HereSince1628]

20. Actually, I think I'm sort of on the conservative side...

go ahead and search comparison of reported lab confirmed cases vs estimates of actual cases of measles.

[MohRokTah]

21. Since you refuse to provide a citation, I can only conclude your numbers are made up.

I'm not under any burden of proof to prove your numbers, you are.

[HereSince1628]

23. The "reported" annual occurrence ranges from 30 something to about 275

Go look at the CDC site...

Considering that viral illness reports are commonly 2-fold less than the actual occurrence--its considered that nearly half of people don't seek clinical assistance and not all clinical presentations meet case definitioins...

I think an accuracy estimate of error with ~20% range on either side of the transformed data is probably pretty good..

[MohRokTah]

24. Still no citation, only a vague appeal to authority

Continued fallacies.

[MohRokTah]

9. Nothing reported in the local news outlets yet.

Let us know when it's confirmed.

[grasswire]

26. aren't most elderly immune

Most have had the disease in childhood.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

27. I don't know.

I do know there was a pertussis scare with her a couple years ago. I can't remember the final outcome. I can't remember if she ended up having it - there was a doctor's visit and it was on the maybe list. We were all concerned because of the other nephew/grandkid was a newborn and she had baby sat him.

[ismnotwasm]

30. I work with immunosuppressed patients.

It's just a matter of time. People come in with the flu and colds all the time, as well as opportunistic infections from bacteria, viruses, molds and fungus that immunohealthy people don't have to usually deal with. This measles thing has me frightened for my patients