Autism Vox

5 Cases of Measles in San Diego

by Kristina Chew, PhD on February 13th, 2008

Five children aged 1 to 9 years old in San Diego County have been diagnosed with measles, and five more are suspected to have measles, today’s SignOn San Diego reports. All of the children were not vaccinated due to their age, or because their parents did not want them to be vaccinated, perhaps because of fears about a link between vaccines and autism, despite more and more evidence countering such a link.

An 11-month-old child who was infected at the Children’s Clinic of La Jolla—which another child with measles had visited—went to Hawaii on an airplane, before the child’s parents knew that she or he had the measles; the child is now recovering in isolation at a military base. SignOn San Diego traces the course of children being infected.

The outbreak began when a 7-year-old returned from a family vacation in Switzerland on Jan. 15 infected with measles. More than 400 cases of measles occur in Switzerland each year, about triple the total in the United States.

The 7-year-old goes to the San Diego Cooperative Charter School in Linda Vista. The child set off a chain reaction that has infected two siblings, one of whom was a fellow charter student, and at least one classmate.

The 7-year-old’s parents took the youngster to the Children’s Clinic of La Jolla, on La Jolla Boulevard in Bird Rock, on Jan. 25. The child may have coughed and sneezed in the office, potentially infecting four other patients.

Those four patients returned to the clinic between Feb. 5 and 8, possibly spreading the virus to 60 other children.

One of the infants who became infected Jan. 25 at the clinic is the 11-month old whose family flew to Hawaii.

Another is a 10-month-old child who was hospitalized Friday with measles symptoms, but whose test results have not been confirmed. This baby went to the Baldwin Academy day care center and the Murray Callan Swim School, both in Pacific Beach.

A third child suspected of contracting measles Jan. 25 at the clinic is a 2-year-old who attended Alcott Elementary School’s Infant & Toddler Development Program in Clairemont. On Feb. 6, the youngster also briefly visited the School of the Madeleine, also in Clairemont.Dr. Alisa Lawrie, a pediatrician at the clinic, said one child now known to have measles came in with only a fever and had not developed the characteristic rash. Because measles is so rare now, she said, “there was nothing to indicate it was more serious. We thought he just had a viral illness and sent him home.”

Lawrie said the outbreak should send a clear message to parents about the danger of not vaccinating their children.“This could have been prevented if we had a fully vaccinated public,” she said. “But there’s a lot of misinformation about vaccines, and more and more parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children.”

Measles can be fatal in up to three per 1,000 children who contract it. Children are more at risk of suffering complications, including pneumonia and swelling of the brain.

And, just to repeat, there is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism.

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POSTED IN: California, Health, Travel