Measles Outbreak In Illinois, 20 Other States: CDC

CHICAGO, IL — Illinois is among 21 states impacted by a nationwide measles outbreak, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nationwide, at least 107 cases have been confirmed since the start of 2018, and the CDC said it is monitoring the outbreak.

In January, the Illinois Department of Public Health issued an alert after they said two measles patients at O'Hare may have come into contact with other travelers. The cases were unrelated, according to IDPH.

The first case involved a passenger who arrived at O'Hare International Airport on Jan. 10. A traveler who arrived at the airport a day earlier was also infected, and health officials offered a timeline of locations the person traveled to in Chicago, Skokie, Evanston and Park Ridge.

In June, the Chicago Department of Public Health issued an alert after a person who was confirmed to be infected with measles visited a restaurant in the Loop. In July, the Cook County Department of Health warned anyone who may have come into contact with another person with measles, this time at a Panera Bread in Chicago and a Jewel-Osco in Mount Prospect, to see a doctor.

Along with Illinois, measles cases have been confirmed in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.

In 2017, 118 people from 15 states and the District of Columbia were reported to have measles, according to the CDC, so the number of 2018 cases should easily outpace last year's total. In 2016, 86 people from 19 states were reported to have measles.

In 2014, the United States experienced a record number of measles cases, with 667 cases from 27 states reported to CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD).
The majority of people who got measles were unvaccinated, according to the CDC.

The symptoms of measles generally appear about seven to 14 days after a person is infected.
Measles typically begins with:

• High fever,
• Cough,
• Runny nose (coryza), and
• Red, watery eyes (conjunctivitis).

Two or three days after symptoms begin, tiny white spots (Koplik spots) may appear inside the mouth.
Three to five days after symptoms begin, a rash breaks out. It usually begins as flat red spots that appear on the face at the hairline and spread downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs, and feet. Small raised bumps may also appear on top of the flat red spots, according to the CDC.
The spots may become joined together as they spread from the head to the rest of the body. When the rash appears, a person's fever may spike to more than 104 degrees.

Read more via the CDC.

Photo via Shutterstock

Tom Davis, Patch National Staff, contributed to this report