Outbreak: Student at Rancho Santa Margarita School Infected with Measles

Students and staff at St. John’s Episcopal School in Rancho Santa Margarita were exposed to the measles last week when an infected student showed up to school Jan. 21-23.

An undisclosed number of unvaccinated students were sent home as a precaution against the spread of the virus, said Kellie Pendergest, the school’s director of advancement.

Beginning with an outbreak at Disneyland, there have been 26 confirmed cases of the Measles in Orange County. St. John’s is the second Orange County school this month, to have an infected student. Earlier this month, an infected student in Huntington Beach triggered the dismissal of unvaccinated students there. The state Department of Public Health has confirmed 79 California cases, with most of those cases linked to the original to Disneyland exposure.

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“Please be assured that the School is cooperating fully with the Orange County Health Care Agency to ensure the health and safety of every student at St. John’s. Students who have not been immunized will be excluded from school until they are released by Orange County Public Health,” Head of School Michael Pratt wrote in a letter sent to parents.

Pratt assured parents that school’s youngest and most vulnerable students were not exposed.

“Fortunately, the Orange County Health Care Agency has determined that there was no exposure to our Early Childhood Center, and overall St. John’s has a high immunization rate.”

The vaccination rate among the student body at St. John’s is above 95 percent, the threshold for containing the spread of the disease, said Pratt. He added that the health department has assured the school that it is in very good shape when it comes to containing the spread of the virus.

That stands in contrast to citywide student vaccination rate, which is among the lowest in the county.

The Capistrano Unified School District, serving Rancho Santa Margarita and neighboring cities, has the lowest vaccination rate in the county. At the start of this school year, only 83.3 percent of students were inoculated.

At St. John’s, the Orange County Health Care Agency is individually contacting students and staff who have had close contact with the case and may not have been immunized against measles.

What you should know about the measles according to the Orange County Health Care Agency:

• Simply being in the same room with someone who has measles is sufficient to become infected.
• Usually about 8-12 days (but up to 21 days) after exposure, measles begins with a mild to moderate fever accompanied by cough, runny nose, and red eyes.
• Two or three days later, the fever spikes, often as high as 104-105°F.
• At the same time, a red blotchy rash appears, usually first on the face, along the hairline and behind the ears.
• The rash rapidly spreads downward to the chest and back and, finally, to the thighs and feet.
• Most students with measles are sick enough that they miss at least a week of school.
• One in every 20 people with measles develops pneumonia; more rarely, serious, even life-threatening complications can occur.
• The MMR vaccine is effective and safe, and two doses are recommended for all children.
• If you think you or your child may have the measles, call your doctor before showing up the office so that your medical provider can take precautions to make sure you don’t further spread the virus.