Missourians-get your shots. Or don't leave home

[displacedinMN]

A person infected with measles visiting southeastern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa exposed the public to the highly contagious disease at various restaurants and other public places during a four-day stretch this month, health officials said.

The infected individual was from Missouri, a state “currently reporting several cases of measles,” said Minnesota Health Department spokesman Doug Schultz.

None of these states has reported any infections attributed to these exposures yet. The window for symptoms to arise runs from roughly April 23 to May 7, Schultz added.

As of late last week, there have been more than 20 reported cases of measles in the Kansas City, Mo., metro area and elsewhere in Kansas near the Missouri border.

Measles exposures were reported at public places in south- eastern Minnesota, and locations in Wisconsin and Iowa.
Coincidentally, these infections and exposures in the Midwest are being reported during National Infant Immunization Week, a campaign spearheaded by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The measles vaccine is 93 percent effective after one dose, and becomes 97 percent effective after two doses.

The Minnesota Health Department said the exposures occurred April 13 at a McDonald’s on Main Street in Winona, and on April 16 at the Freeborn County Co-op gas station on Margaretha Avenue in Albert Lea.

In Wisconsin, the La Crosse and Trempealeau county health departments listed the following times and places where exposure occurred: the evening of April 13 at Beedle’s Bar and Restaurant in Galesville, April 13-16 at the Comfort Inn in Onalaska, April 14 at the Dollar Tree in Onalaska, 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on April 15 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Galesville, the afternoon of April 15 at Champions Riverside Resort in Galesville, the evening of April 14 at Fairfield Inn in La Crosse, and the evening of April 15 at the Texas Roadhouse in La Crosse.

The exposures in Iowa occurred at two locations: the morning of April 13 at a Hardee’s on Merle Hay Road in Des Moines, and during the afternoon of April 16 at a Panera Bread in Ankeny.

“If someone has been exposed and has signs consistent with measles, it is important that they stay isolated from others to prevent spreading the disease and call their health care provider,” Kris Ehresmann, director of infectious disease for the Minnesota Health Department said in a statement.

In two counties across the border from southeastern Minnesota, health departments there say they were alerted by Missouri officials to the contagious visitor’s presence in many locations.

“Measles is extremely contagious, and you can have very severe outcomes,” said Jen Rombalski, director of the La Crosse County Health Department. “For every 1,000 children who get measles, one or two will die from it.”

Measles symptoms include high fever, coughing, runny nose, red and watery eyes and a rash. It spreads when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

Rombalski said this person could well have been unaware he or she was infected while traveling with others first in Iowa, then Minnesota and Wisconsin and back again in Iowa.

“It just depends on the onset of symptoms with this particular individual,” Rombalski said.

“You can start out with fever, a runny nose and watery eyes, and it’s not until the rash appears” that having the measles becomes obvious, she said.

[WilliamTheIrish]

Originally Posted by alanm

Measles. Chicken Pox was what decimated the Native Americans.

JFC... No you had chicken pox.

"Musket pox" killed the Indians.

[TribalElder]

But did measles guy dip in the chocolate wonder fall with his fingers or did he use one of the sticks?

[dlphg9]

God damn there are some stupid ****s on this site.