A 13-month-old child recently adopted from China has been diagnosed with measles, Snohomish County’s first confirmed case of the disease in more than a decade.
"We’ve had other suspected cases from time to time," said Dr. M. Ward Hinds, health officer for the Snohomish Health District. However, the last confirmed case was in 1991.
The child’s case is part of a measles outbreak that also involves children in King County, all part of a group of 11 families who traveled to China last month and adopted 12 children.
Public health officials in King County said Wednesday they have one confirmed measles case and five possible cases among the adopted children from China.
Snohomish Health District officials are trying to track down how many other children may have been exposed to the 13-month-old with measles. Area physicians have been alerted to the possibility of the disease and have been asked to report suspected cases.
So far, there are no reports of local children contracting the disease from exposure to the child with measles.
Blood test results on Wednesday confirmed that the child, whose family lives in south Snohomish County, had measles, Hinds said. He declined to say which city the child and family live in.
Another local 7-year-old child who was part of the same adoption trip is being monitored for measles but so far shows no symptoms, Hinds said.
"The child is not ill, but there’s still some possibility the child could develop the disease," he said, explaining that children can get measles as long as 21 days after being exposed.
Measles is highly contagious and can be spread through coughing or sneezing.
Washington children usually receive the first shot to protect them from measles when they are 12 to 15 months old.
The measles cases underscore the need for children to be up-to-date on their measles shots and other childhood immunizations, Hinds said.
"The disease has not gone away," he said. "It can re-enter this country at any time."
One other probable measles case from the same trip has been diagnosed in Maryland, said Donn Moyer, spokesman for the Maryland Health Department. Families of the other adopted children are living in Alaska, Florida and New York, but so far there are no suspected cases in those states, he said.
Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
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