Second Wisconsin Child Dies Of Measles Amid Surge In Cases
Grant County death comes as state records highest measles case count in 35 years, DHS says.
A skin rash is observed on a patient’s abdomen 3-days after the onset of a measles infection. The image was captured at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in 1958. Photo by Heinz F. Eichenwald, MD /CDC Public Health Image Library.
A second child in Grant County has died of measles, according to state health officials.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services announced the pediatric measles-associated death on Friday. No further details were released to protect the privacy of the child and their family.
The news comes one week after DHS announced an infant had died of the virus, marking the first measles death in the state since 1990.
Measles is one of the most contagious viruses, and it can cause life-threatening complications including pneumonia and swelling of the brain. Children younger than age 5 are among those who are most at risk of serious illness, as well as people who are pregnant or who have weakened immune systems.
Doctors recommend children receive the first dose of the two-shot measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine after their first birthday. But DHS announced last week that it recommends children as young as 6 months who are at increased risk of exposure to measles get the shot.
The two-dose course of the MMR vaccine is 97 percent effective at preventing measles and provides lifelong protection.
As of Friday, there have been 649 measles cases reported across 20 Wisconsin counties since August. It’s the highest number of cases in the state in more than 35 years, according to DHS, and likely does not reflect the full extent of spread due to underreporting.
Wisconsin has the fourth-highest number of measles cases in the U.S. this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Pennsylvania, which has the most measles cases for the year, reported the state’s seventh-measles related death on Friday. New York health officials reported Monday that a child had died of the virus, marking that state’s first measles death in more than 30 years.
Second Wisconsin child dies of measles was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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