Health officials have confirmed a measles outbreak in the Spanish Lookout area, with seven cases already identified and more under investigation. The Ministry of Health and Wellness says the first two lab-confirmed cases were detected on April twelfth. Since then, five more people, linked to one of the original patients, have been clinically diagnosed. In response, health authorities have ramped up surveillance and are urging the public to follow vaccination guidelines. This afternoon, Doctor Melissa Diaz-Musa, Director of Public Health & Wellness, briefed reporters on the latest efforts to contain the growing measles outbreak. With confirmed cases rising and more under investigation, health authorities are stepping up their response and urging the public to stay vigilant and get vaccinated.
Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa, Director of Public Health & Wellness
“On April twenty-seventh, we sent out an update in terms of what we were finding on the ground and we had found five, additional epidemiologically linked cases. So that was linked to one of the laboratory-confirmed cases. So it was in the same family and these people were, again, isolated. Since April twenty-seventh, we have continued to do our heightened surveillance, we continued to send laboratory samples for testing. Dr. Beer can say… I see you have fifty-four samples that have been sent so far and the only two laboratory confirmed were the ones hat we reported on. Moving forward now to what has happened over the last few days. On Friday, May ninth, we were informed that there was someone with fever and rash at a facility in the Spanish Lookout area. Wea visited and we took samples for this person and these samples are in the process of being ran. We haven’t received the results as yet, but clinically, that person fits the clinical definition measles. In doing the investigation of that person and following the trail and where this person has been, again it’s linked to travel to Mexico. We cannot say that this new case that presented on Friday is an imported case because it appears that it is locally transmitted…”
Doctor Melissa Diaz-Musa revealed this afternoon that one of the confirmed measles patients has no recent travel history, and neither does their family. However, the individual is believed to have been in contact with someone who had recently returned from Mexico.