ATLANTA, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. health officials say they traced the path of a 2009 measles outbreak to a Pennsylvania hospital.
"The outbreak started when a child from India with fever and rash went to a hospital emergency department on March 10, 2009, and was diagnosed with viral exanthema -- a rash due to a viral infection such as measles but may also be non-specific for several viral illnesses -- but not tested for measles," said a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "On April 3, after an extensive public health investigation, the child was belatedly diagnosed with measles."
The child's brother, age 4, had a fever, cough and rash March 23, while the boys' father had similar symptoms March 26. Both the brother and father tested positive for measles.
An 11-month-old infant, who had fever and rash March 27 also tested positive for measles April 2. An emergency room physician had fever and rash onset on March 26, the report said.
"The parents had elected not to vaccinate either child; while the father had received a single vaccine dose during childhood," the report said. "Despite delays in diagnoses and lack of isolation precautions, measles transmission during this outbreak was limited, possibly because of the high rates of measles immunization among members of this community, the fact that the infected children did not attend school or child care and intense control efforts by public health officials and healthcare facilities."
The findings were published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
