Undetected measles infection causes death of Washington woman – Healio

Although she had previously been vaccinated against measles, the immune suppression allowed her to become infected anyway after she was exposed to the disease at a medical facility.

The woman, who is not being identified in the press, was dealing with other health issues that required her to take drugs to suppress her immune system.

A woman in Washington state is the first person to die of measles in the United States in a dozen years, authorities said today.

After being treated in Clallam County, the woman was moved to the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, where she died. Because she did not demonstrate the usual symptoms, like a rash, the measles infection was not detected before she died from pneumonia, which was caused by measles.

Schuchat said the best protection is immunization. The correct diagnosis was not made until tests during her autopsy were finished. She was there at the same time as a person who later developed a rash and was contagious for measles.

For every one person who has it, it can spread to an average of up to 18 others.

Measles is extremely contagious.

“That’s an extraordinarily infectious virus, much more infectious than the flu”, he said.

The challenge is that the woman’s immune system was weakened by pharmaceuticals. In fact, it’s estimated that 90% of people who come into contact with a measles patient will develop measles unless they are immune. “The bottom line is that we have a responsibility for the health of others in our community, and the most effective way we can help to safeguard their health is by getting vaccinated”. The World Health Organization attributed this to immunization campaigns.

Including the deceased woman, there have been six measles cases in the county, Burks said. “Even when vaccinated, they may not have a good immune response when exposed to disease; they may be especially vulnerable to disease outbreaks”.

There have been almost 180 measles cases so far in 2015, largely driven by a massive outbreak that spread quickly among Americans who visited a Disneyland theme park in January.

Because of that outbreak, California just passed one of the strictest laws mandating vaccinations.

During 2014, the US saw the highest number since 2000, with 668 cases from 27 states reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least 125 of these cases were linked to the outbreak that began at Disneyland.

Anti-vaccine sentiments stem from an unscientific belief that government-recommended immunizations are harmful to children and may even cause autism. The vaccine, which is given in two doses, is 97% effective after the second dose. No deaths resulted from that outbreak.

Worldwide, deaths from measles hit record lows in 2012, as annual deaths declined to 122,000 from 562,000 in 2002. One victim was a 13-year-old girl who had recently undergone a bone marrow transplant, requiring her to be immunosuppressed to prevent rejection.