Health Officials Confirm Case Of Measles In Northern Suburbs
(CBS) -- Cook County and state public health officials say there's been a confirmed case of the measles in the northern suburbs, reports WBBM's Bernie Tafoya.
Public health workers have warned people who were at Northwest Community Hospital's emergency room, the Vista Clinic in Palatine, the Supermercado Guzman grocery store in Palatine and the infected person's workplace from January 12-16 that they may have been exposed to measles.
"This person has exceeded their infectious period so they are no longer able to transmit measles to someone else," said Dr. Rachel Rubin with the Cook County Health Department.
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At Supermercado Guzman, a letter from the Cook County and Illinois Public Health Departments is posted at the entrance with a number for customers to call if they're experiencing measles symptoms. The owner, Hector Guzman, says so far no employees have gotten sick.
Brigette Bucholz, the manager of Infection Prevention and Control at Northwest Community Healthcare, says it can take up to 21 days for someone to show measles symptoms, which often mimic the flu or a cold.
"While that person was here, we did not have a way, especially before they were seen, maybe while they were in the waiting room and before they had been evaluated, to isolate them in a way that would prevent transmission," said Bucholz.
With two young children at home and one on the way, Elena Aronson takes any illness seriously. But now that she's learning the first case of measles in Illinois this year is a person living in north suburban cook county, she questions why anyone would choose to not be vaccinated.
"I think too often people think these diseases that have been essentially eradicated are nothing more than a cold, and that's unfortunate," said Aronson.
She said her father told her he had measles in medical school and nearly died from it.
Officials say case is not likely related to a nationwide outbreak of measles linked to Disneyland.
If you haven't had the measles vaccine, you could contract the measles from someone merely by being in the same room with them, which is why Dr. Rubin says it is so important to get the measles vaccine.
According to Illinois Department of Public Health Director Nirav Shah, there have been 10 cases of measles reported in Illinois in the past five years.
