Oregon’s public health officials are urging families to get vaccinated after measles was detected in the wastewater of six Oregon counties.
Just a handful of cases have been confirmed so far, but OHA’S Director of Communicable Disease and Immunization, Dr. Howard Chiou, said health officials have declared an outbreak and believe the disease is spreading throughout Oregon.
“These cases likely represent just a fraction of the true number of cases because not everyone who becomes sick will seek treatment or get tested,” Chiou said during an online press conference Thursday.
In the last two weeks, according to OHA’s measles dashboard, measles has been detected in the wastewater of Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Clackamas, Multnomah and Morrow Counties.
Chiou said measles can also be far more severe than people realize, with nearly one-third of people infected developing complications. The disease can also suppress the immune system for years, leaving those who were infected vulnerable to other illnesses.
Dr. Dawn Nolt, a pediatrics professor at OHSU, said small decreases in vaccination rates have left many communities vulnerable to measles, which can be life threatening to infants.
"For measles, we really are very focused on keeping that herd immunity, that vaccine rate very, very high because it's so incredibly contagious," Nolt said.
Nolt says the goal is at least a 95% vaccination rate, and many schools in Oregon have slipped below that. Full data on individual school vaccination rates is available on OHA’s website.
Measles symptoms include high fever, cough, runny nose, eye redness and rash.
