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When Jessica Colletti's son Vincent was 3 years old He had lost his usual pep last month, she worried something was wrong.
“Mommy, I'm not good,” said the normally energetic boy to his mother one Saturday in early March. By Monday, Vincent, a mother of two from Chicago, had stopped moving or talking much.
“His eyes look so empty,” Colletti said. Depicting her son's feverish eyes. Vincents His eyes were red and he had a rash. He tested positive for HIV-19 at the time, but Collette felt something else was missing.
The family's neighbor, a nurse, came to see the boy and asked Colletti to take him to the hospital immediately.
“It was definitely one of the scariest moments of my life,” Collette said.
One two Days after the 3-year-old went to the hospital The test results were positive for a highly infectious disease US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention I thought officially. “Removed” Since 2000, from the US.
Vincent had measles.
Colette lives in one. 17 states that have reported an outbreak of measles this year.
As of April 18, the CDC says there are 125 cases. Last year there were only 58 cases. According to the CDC, the US as a whole sees about 72 cases each year.
Most cases of measles in the United States occur when a person travels overseas to a country where the virus is endemic. He was not lost, but Coletti's son was not out of the country. He hasn't even enrolled in school yet. Most of the cases in Chicago this year are from A A temporary shelter has been prepared for refugeesBut he wasn't there.
Doctors say that Colette Vincent may never know how he got it.
“Measles is highly contagious. Because the measles virus stays in the air for a long time, you can line up in the same grocery store with someone who has measles,” said Dr. Claudia Hoenn, director of pediatric infection control at UH Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland. Colette's son was not treated.
Colletti said her son was partially vaccinated, but he was too young to receive the second shot.
In America, The CDC recommends Children between 12 and 15 months of age should receive the first dose of measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Children receive a second vaccination between 4 and 6 years of age.
Measles vaccine is considered very effective. One dose is 93% effective in measles and two are 97% effective. Vaccinated people can still get sick, but it doesn't happen often and it's usually a mild infection.
“Little kids with measles look distressed. They don't feel any better,” Hoenn said. Vaccination. Measles can be fatal in unvaccinated people and lead to serious health problems, including encephalitis and pneumonia.
“Especially if he has covid and measles at the same time. “I'm worried that he might be predisposed to pneumonia because he's already had something that affects his respiratory system, so it's a good thing he's vaccinated,” Hoenn said.
Colletti had to wait a long time before being seen at a local hospital, but Vincent was being examined by doctors and treated with IV fluids. After a day, the boy began to feel better and the rash seemed to disappear, Colletti said, and Vincent was sent home.
But it didn't end there. The phone rang two days later and Colette found out about the measles test.
A sick girl, Colette, wasn't the only one on her hands: she was inundated with other calls related to the virus.
Colletti first called the Chicago Department of Public Health, then her son's doctor's office. So she made another phone call from the hospital where her son was being treated..
“There was a doctor who told me my son had measles in the ER and I was like, 'No, my son exposed your ER,'” Collette said.
Although her son felt better over the weekend, The CDC recommends that sick people stay in isolation for four days after the rash appears because the virus is highly contagious. People with measles can infect others Four days before and four days after the rash; Studies show. After a person with measles leaves the area, the virus can remain in the air for at least two hours.
Because Colletti's infant daughter was too young to be vaccinated, the entire family had to stay at home because of concerns that Colletti would test positive for the virus. The health department told her that she and her husband were not sick and should stay home from work until they could confirm vaccinations.
“The nightmare wasn't just that my son was sick. That was horrible, but then it's your whole world. You can't go to work. You can't do this and that, and you can't even trust him,” Collette said. You never think it will happen to you, but until you deal with all those phone calls trying to figure out what's going on and tracking the last 21 days of your life, it could connect you with someone else. is it. It's more than you think. People don't realize how much they get into.
Anytime a person is diagnosed with measles, public health departments try and contact anyone who has been in contact with that person to help prevent the disease.
Blood tests finally found Colletti and her husband immune to the vaccine.
Dr. Frank Belmonte, chief and chairman of pediatrics at Advocate Children's Hospital in the Chicago area, said the recent outbreak of measles in the city has affected hospital staff. He has been making many efforts. The city has seen it. 63 cases Until this year.
Belmonte Advocate Children's Hospital tries to be proactive. Staff go through patient records to see who is behind their vaccinations and call to encourage people to find out. They have also done education and outreach efforts about measles in different languages in the community. And because measles was so rare, they had to train workers to recognize the symptoms.
“We have also done a lot of education with our community of doctors telling them to monitor the symptoms And to understand what the rash looks like, Belmonte said. Many physicians of this generation have only rarely or never seen measles.
When the hospital is confronted with a case, Belmonte said they call anyone who may have been exposed. Also to find out A plan for people who may get sick.
“We learned a lot during his time at VV about how to do that and how to work well with our state and local public health officials, and I think we applied those techniques to this particular case of measles,” Belmonte said.
We are, With UH Rainbow Children's and Children's Hospital, health care systems need to be more aware of measles outbreaks in the community. For example, even though Cleveland didn't have a single case of measles last summer, hospital staff are known to ask if patients have traveled to Columbus, Ohio. Expansion.
“Similar to what we're doing to people with Covid — again, because measles is so contagious,” Hoenn said.
Hoenn is concerned about the trend towards low vaccination rates Among kindergarteners in the USBut she hopes recent education efforts will help people understand why they need protection.
“What can we do to make people aware that it's not just a rash, it can be pneumonia or encephalitis and encephalitis and you can die,” Hoenn said. “You don't want to put kids at risk for this.”
Colletti saw what it was like to have a “mild” case with her partially vaccinated son and said she wouldn't wish this on anyone.
“It was a lot at once,” Colletti said.