A third case of the measles has been confirmed in a child from Minnesota, according to a report from the La Crosse Tribune.
The most recently reported measles case adds to two previously identified cases in the state. The Minnesota Health Department is continuing to investigate the viral infections as the source has yet to be determined. Since the measles was declared eliminated from the United States in 2000, identified cases of the virus are typically linked to international travel. In this instance, none of the three children traveled abroad.
All three children live in Hennepin County. Two of the children are siblings and the third has been in close contact with the other two. All three are currently being treated Children's Minnesota hospital in Minneapolis after initial treatment in the hospital's emergency room.
Patsy Stinchfield, RN, the hospital's director of infection prevention and control, said other patients may have been exposed to the highly communicable virus in the ER, according to the La Crosse Tribune.
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"We have hundreds of families who we are reaching out to for potential exposures," she said. "But we have no known secondary cases from those kids."
Ms. Stinchfield added that the recent situation should serve as a warning to parents who've forgone the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine for their children, citing the potentially dire consequences of a measles infection.
"We've had children at our hospital even as recently as 2011 who were in our intensive care unit, on a ventilator. It can get into your brain, it can get into your lungs, it can cause permanent brain damage," she said, according to the report. "There is no medical reason not to get MMR vaccine unless you have a severe immune deficiency."
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