by Elisa Schlosser
BILLINGS – In light of the measles outbreak in Washington State and an outbreak of mumps in Bozeman, RiverStone Health, Yellowstone County’s public health agency, is working with school districts to contact parents of children who are not immunized against measles and mumps.
RiverStone Health wants to ensure all students are vaccinated against these preventable diseases and that parents and guardians are aware of consequences a measles or mumps outbreak could have on their child’s attendance at school and at school events.
The MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) or MMRV (combined measles, mumps, rubella, varicella for chickenpox) vaccine provides immunity against measles and mumps. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends all students get two doses of the vaccine. Measles vaccine, given as MMR, can be effective if given within the first 3 days (72 hours) after exposure.
Measles symptoms appear within 10 to 14 days after exposure. Symptoms include fever, dry cough, runny nose, sore throat, inflamed eyes, and tiny white spots with bluish-white centers on a red background found inside the mouth. Most predominant is an external skin rash made up of flat, red blotches. The infection lasts two to three weeks. A person with measles is infectious four days before and four days after the rash appears.
Mumps symptoms are swollen salivary glands that cause the cheeks to puff out. Other signs and symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, fatigue, loss of appetite, and pain in the swollen salivary glands on one or both sides of your face. The infectious period of mumps ranges from 16 to 24 days. Some people have little to no symptoms, while others are greater risk for complications related to the disease.
Natural immunity to both measles and mumps does usually occur after an individual has been infected. Medical documentation, including laboratory confirmation of the infection is required by schools in Yellowstone County in lieu of not having been vaccinated.
If there are confirmed cases of measles or mumps in any school in Yellowstone County, children in that school may be affected in the following way:
· If a child does not have at least one dose of the MMR or MMRV, the child may be excluded from school and activities for a minimum of 21 days after most recent exposure to measles or mumps at the school.
· If a child gets at least one dose of MMR or MMRV during an outbreak, the child may return to school.
Area school districts have received a letter from RiverStone Health instructing them to forward it to parents of unvaccinated children, urging those parents to vaccinate their children.
If parents or guardians are unsure of their child’s immunization status, they should contact the child’s healthcare provider. Immunization against measles and mumps can also be obtained through the child’s healthcare provider.
At this time, there are no measles cases in Montana and no mumps cases in Yellowstone County.
