GPB’s Peter Biello speaks with Dr. Andi Shane about the measles virus and how to protect yourself.
Peter Biello: The Georgia Department of Public Health last week confirmed a case of measles in a baby who was too young to receive the routine measles vaccination. It’s the first case of the measles identified in Georgia this year — and last year in Georgia, there were 10. For more information on measles and how to best protect yourself, let’s turn to Andi Shane. She’s professor of pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine and a physician at Children’s Health Care of Atlanta. Welcome to the program.
Dr. Andi Shane: Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here, Peter.
Peter Biello: So measles is extremely contagious. Can you spell out what it takes for the virus to spread from person to person?
Dr. Andi Shane: Yeah, so measles is one of the most contagious viruses that we know of, and it spreads via the airborne route, primarily. And so, unfortunately, if a person with measles is in a room and leaves the room, the measles virus can continue to be present in the room for up to two hours after the individual leaves the group. And also, if you have unvaccinated people who are in a room with somebody who has measles — or comes back into the room after someone with measles has left — between eight to nine of those individuals who are unvaccinated will then acquire measles.
Peter Biello: So when doctors learn about a potential exposure situation, how do they go about tracking people down and let them know they might’ve been exposed?
Dr. Andi Shane: So this is a collaborative team effort, when this occurs, between public health and the clinician who is involved. These outbreak investigations are a huge effort, require a tremendous number of resources and involve the public health agencies working together with the clinician, basically tracking everywhere that an individual who is infectious has been within a certain period of time.
Peter Biello: Once someone’s alerted that they may have been infected, what’s next? Do they have to isolate themselves and monitor for symptoms? And if they have isolated, about how long do they have to isolate for?
Dr. Andi Shane: So there’s — it depends on the exposure and the extent of the exposure. We have two situations. One is quarantine when an individual is asked to not go out into the environment after they’ve been exposed. That individual who’s been exposed is not symptomatic. And so they have to be in their home for a period of time after the last infectious exposure. And that can vary, depending on the situation, between three to four weeks. If a person is exposed and becomes symptomatic, then they also go into what we call isolation, where they have to remain at home or in a home environment for a period of time as well.
Peter Biello: How effective is the measles vaccine at preventing serious illness?
Dr. Andi Shane: So the MMR vaccine — and that’s the vaccine that is available in the United States — it contains protection against measles. One of the M’s stands for measles, one of the M’s stands for mumps and the other — and the R stands for rubella. What we know is that in a population who receives one dose of the measles vaccine it’s between 93% to 95% effective and that is after the receipt of one dose. In the United States, we recommend that everybody receive a second dose and that additional dose, it provides additional protection in that 5% to 7% who may not have mounted protection to the original vaccine. And so with two doses, 97% or so, 98% of the population is immune to measles.
Peter Biello: So what should you do if you think your child may have been exposed to someone who has a confirmed case of measles?
Dr. Andi Shane: So first of all, we want everybody, parents and children, to check their vaccination status and make sure that they’re up to date on their measles vaccine. So that’s the one thing that everybody can do. If we’re up-to-date for age on measles vaccination, then the chances that you will acquire measles after being exposed are extremely low. If your child is unvaccinated or unable to be vaccinated and you hear or are concerned that they may have been exposed to someone with measles, the first thing to do is to monitor for symptoms and if symptoms should develop, then seek medical care. It’s also important before going to a physician’s office, if you think that you have measles, to call ahead and notify so that you can be seen in a way that you won’t expose other people to the measles virus if you in fact do have measles.
Peter Biello: Well, thank you so much for this information. Andi Shane is professor of pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine and a physician at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Thank you so for speaking with me.
Dr. Andi Shane: My pleasure.
This story comes to The Current GA through a reporting partnership with GPB News, a non-profit newsroom covering the state of Georgia.