ST. LOUIS — St. Louis health officials are echoing their colleagues at the state level in warning the public of a possible measles exposure at the St. Louis Aquarium.
The City of St. Louis Department of Health reports an out-of-state resident with a confirmed case of measles visited the aquarium between 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 30, then dined at a nearby restaurant. Additional details about this person’s visit to the city are limited.
Measles is highly contagious and can be transmitted by direct contact via droplets or airborne spread. City and state health leaders urge anyone who was at the aquarium during those hours—particularly those who are immunocompromised, pregnant, or have a child too young to be vaccinated—to contact their health care provider or the city or state health department immediately.
Measles typically begins with symptoms such as fever, cough, runny nose, and red, watery eyes, followed by red spots that can spread rapidly across the body. The usual time interval for treatment to be effective is six days from exposure, and anyone exposed should watch for symptoms for 21 days.
Thus far, no measles have been reported in connection with this recent exposure.
There has been one other measles case in Missouri this year, reported in Taney County last month, and four cases in Illinois.
The measles vaccine was introduced in 1963, which saw a dramatic drop in measles cases for the remainder of the decade. A flare-up of measles in the late 1980s prompted the addition of a second measles vaccine to be added to a child’s vaccination schedule. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), measles was determined to be eliminated in the United States in 2000.
As of May 1, 935 confirmed cases of measles have been reported in 30 states: Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York State, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. This is the highest number of recorded measles cases in the nation since 1999.
Roughly two thirds of all confirmed cases are in Texas. Thirteen percent of cases in the United States have required hospitalization (121 of 935) and three people have died thus far. A majority of those hospitalizations is for children under five years of age (66 of 121).
A person with measles can spread the virus to 9 out of 10 unvaccinated people or persons without natural immunity. In extreme instances, measles can lead to pneumonia and encephalitis (brain swelling). Case fatality rates for measles are between one and three persons out of every 1,000 cases reported.