As measles spreads across the country, sick children and adults are exposing other patients — including newborn babies — when they seek care at hospitals, pediatrician’s offices and urgent care centers.
To help control the spread of measles, one of the world’s most contagious viruses, medical experts say people with suspected cases should take precautions before visiting a doctor’s office or the emergency room.
“I never want to discourage anyone from seeking care,” said Dr. Alison Haddock, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians. But “measles is highly contagious and it is dangerous to expose others.”
Walking into a crowded clinic or emergency department, especially without a mask, can infect others in the waiting room, including patients who are pregnant, medically vulnerable or immunocompromised, said Dr. Ari Brown, a pediatrician in Austin, Texas, and spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics. An unvaccinated child with measles, who had been infected while traveling abroad, sparked an outbreak in San Diego in 2008 that included children in the waiting room of a pediatrician’s office.
“If you have any concerns” about being infected with measles, “do not just show up at the pediatrician’s office. Do not just show up at the ER,” Brown said. “Call first so they can be prepared.”
As of Friday, the U.S. has seen upward of 500 measles cases in at least 20 states and Washington, D.C. since the beginning of the year. The majority are in Texas, where an outbreak on the western edge of the state has grown to 400 cases and spilled into New Mexico and Oklahoma. Two people have died, including a 6-year-old girl.
While anyone who is unvaccinated can be infected with measles, patients in hospitals and clinics may be especially vulnerable to complications, especially if they are pregnant, immunocompromised or in fragile health, Brown said. The measles virus can survive in the air for two hours after an infected person leaves the room, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, suggested alerting ER staff that someone with measles is on their way.
Schaffner also advised people to bring a second adult to the ER along with the sick patient. While one adult waits outside the building with the sick patient, the second adult should go inside, notify the ER staff and find out what precautions to take before bringing a potentially infected patient inside.
ER staff may need time to prepare an isolation room for someone with measles. These rooms have specialized airflow and filtration systems to prevent airborne viruses from drifting into public areas, Haddock said.
Given the overcrowding in most ERs, however, “staff may need to rearrange patients to make this room available to you,” Haddock said.
Measles patients and their family members or caregivers should wear masks when in any health care facility,