Colorado has identified two more cases of measles tied to a Turkish Airlines flight into Denver, bringing the total number of infections among Colorado residents linked to the flight to seven.
The newest infections are in a Denver resident who was aboard the flight and an El Paso County resident who crossed paths with an infectious traveler in the airport.
The flight, Turkish Airlines flight 201, took off from Istanbul and landed at Denver International Airport on May 13. One of the passengers on the flight was infectious with measles. That passenger then spent the night at a nearby hotel before flying out the following day.
At least four Colorado residents on the Turkish Airlines flight became infected with measles — two adults from Arapahoe County, a child from Arapahoe County and the newly identified adult from Denver. All of the adults were vaccinated against measles and are said to be recovering at home. The child was not vaccinated and was hospitalized.
In addition, Dr. Ned Calonge, the chief medical officer at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said in an interview Tuesday that a passenger on the flight who lives in another state also came down with measles. Calonge did not have more information on that passenger or where they live. Their infection, as well as that of the infectious traveler, would be counted in the case tallies for the states where they reside, not Colorado’s.
Three people from El Paso County — one vaccinated and two not — contracted measles after crossing paths with the infectious traveler in the airport May 14. All three are recovering at home.
Where were the infected passengers sitting?
With so many people from so many different places involved, the public health response requires a sprawling investigation and case-tracking effort.
Calonge said CDPHE’s role in the investigation is limited to focusing only on the infections in Colorado residents. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is taking the bigger view, reconstructing the plane’s seating chart to map where the infectious and infected travelers were sitting.
Calonge said the CDC has a protocol for tracking infections on flights that involves identifying everybody who sat two rows in front or two rows behind the infectious person — who is known as the “index case” in epidemiology-speak.
The two vaccinated adults from Arapahoe County were within those borders, he said. But the child, Calonge said, was “farther back.” So, too, was the adult from Denver.
A measles virus particle, artificially colored in red, is seen in an image taken through an electron microscope. (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, via Flickr)That could speak to the measles virus’s ability to travel around the plane cabin during a long flight. Multiple studies have documented instances of passengers on flights being infected by measles spread by someone sitting farther than two rows away.
Or it’s also possible the child and the Denver adult went to the bathroom after the infectious person or walked up and down the aisle past them.
“It hangs in the air for up to two hours after a person’s been there,” Calonge said of the measles virus. “It’s a remarkable virus. That’s why you really need high vaccination rates to protect the population.”
As for the people from El Paso County infected, Calonge said they appear to have been on Concourse B at the same time as the infectious traveler, though it’s not clear exactly where they would have crossed paths.
Why all the “breakthrough” infections?
Two doses of the MMR vaccine are considered 97% effective at preventing a measles infection. Just one is 93% effective.
That makes so-called “breakthrough” infections of vaccinated people rare. Of the nearly 1,100 measles cases identified in the United States this year, 96% are in people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown. Only 3% are in people who were vaccinated with two doses.
Calonge said it is possible that the conditions on the airplane — being in close proximity to an infectious person for a long time — made breakthrough cases more likely, but it’s not certain.
“That’s conjecture,” he said.
He said some epidemiology math also applies. When a highly vaccinated group of people is exposed to the measles virus, the risk of any one of those individuals becoming infected is low. But the sum of the rare instances when a vaccinated person does become infected can add up. In some circumstances, this can mean there are more breakthrough infections than infections in unvaccinated people, even though the risk of being infected when you’re unvaccinated is much higher.
“They can be over-represented in your actual cases,” Calonge said. “So that’s the math that’s really hard to separate out.”
People who have been infected with measles following vaccination are typically less infectious and get less sick, Calonge said. That’s why CDPHE and other public health authorities are continuing to encourage people who have not received the MMR vaccine to do so.
“We need to stress the fact that we have within our ability an effective way of addressing this, and so we should do that,” Calonge said.
Should you get a vaccine booster before traveling?
Despite the high number of measles cases Colorado has seen so far this year — 12, more than any year going back decades — Calonge said there remains no evidence of ongoing transmission of the virus occurring within Colorado.
That means people are unlikely to encounter an infectious person in their day-to-day lives. CDPHE is maintaining a website with all known exposure locations, broken down by city, with dates through which symptoms from those exposures could appear.
If you believe you were exposed to measles and have begun to show symptoms, call your medical provider or your local public health agency. It is important to call ahead before seeking treatment to avoid potentially exposing others.
People who have been vaccinated already should talk to their doctor about whether to get a booster dose if they plan to travel to an area where measles is endemic or that is experiencing ongoing community transmission of the virus. This includes not just places abroad but also areas of U.S. states such as Texas that are experiencing active measles outbreaks, Calonge said.
Infants at least 6 months old traveling to such places are eligible to receive an early dose of vaccine — which is typically not given until after a kid turns 1.
“If people are concerned about traveling, especially if they’re traveling to a place where there’s endemic measles or an outbreak, I would have them talk to their health care provider,” Calonge said.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Here’s what we know about how measles spread on a Turkish Airlines flight to Denver )
Also on site :
- Beloved '90s Hitmaker, 61, Commands the Red Carpet in a Striking Look During Rare Red Carpet Appearance
- Shoppers must take action after ‘life-threatening’ issue found in 1.7m air con products sold at stores including Costco
- Academy-Award Winning Actress, 87, Absolutely Shimmers in Satin on N.Y.C. Red Carpet