News > Spokane Health district confirms second measles case UPDATED: Wed., April 29, 2015

A second person in Spokane County has contracted measles, the Spokane Regional Health District announced this afternoon. Last week, the district announced the first measles case in Spokane County in 20 years. Like the first case, the most recent patient is unvaccinated, the health district said in a news release. The district is warning that the second measles patient was at Madeleine’s Café, 415 W. Main, from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and at WinCo, 9257 N. Nevada, at 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday. Anyone who was at those locations and is unvaccinated should contact their health care provider if they start experiencing symptoms, which include a high fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and rash. Measles is spread through coughing and sneezing can remain in the air and on surfaces up to two hours, according to the health district. All locations where the infected person was are now safe for the public. Dorothy MacEachern, a district epidemiologist, said the patient is an adult and has not required hospitalization. Health district officials still have not identified how the first Spokane County case was exposed. But 50 unvaccinated people who came in contact with that person have been advised to stay home for 21 days. Some of those people are under mandatory quarantine, MacEachern said. Other have just been strongly advised to stay home. The district checks in with those people once or twice a day by phone. “We have had no one who has disagreed,” MacEachern said. The most recent measles patient was in proximity to the first measles patient while the first person was contagious, MacEachern said. But the contact was not in public locations. Another 250 who came in contact with that person were vaccinated or had proven immunity to measles, the district said.

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