Students at Oakland Mills High School in Columbia were being barred from classes today if they couldn't prove they had received a second round of vaccinations against measles.
Anne Arundel County plans to take the same action next Wednesday at Arundel High School in Gambrills, as public health officials in Central Maryland scramble to stay ahead of a growing outbreak of the viral illness.
"This is not a disease to fool around with," said Dr. Elin Gursky, director of epidemiology and disease control for the Prince George's County Health Department.
So far this year, nine confirmed measles cases and 17 suspected cases have been reported from Howard, Prince George's, Montgomery and Anne Arundel counties, said Dr. Diane Dwyer, chief of the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Center for Clinical Epidemiology.
"We actually have fewer cases than last year [at this time]," Dwyer said. But last year's outbreak "took off" in March and totaled 213 cases by year's end, the biggest outbreak in a decade.
"That's why we felt it necessary at this time to re-emphasize that measles is in the community," she said.
Health officials now recommend that parents have their children immunized against measles, mumps and rubella (German measles) at 15 months of age. Immunization is required for enrollment in public schools.
A second immunization at the time the child enters middle
school is now recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and by the American Academy of Pediatricians.
Measles, or rubeola, can be very serious, even fatal, Dwyer said.
It is a viral infection, spread by coughs and sneezes. It is characterized by high fever, coughs and sneezes, followed by a reddish skin rash.
Last year, 29 percent of Maryland's measles victims had to be hospitalized for such complications as dehydration, pneumonia and encephalitis, or brain inflammation. Encephalitis can result in permanent brain damage.
No deaths are believed to have occurred from measles in Maryland last year. But 60 people died nationwide, up from 41 the year before.
The number of measles cases in the United States has been growing in the past three years, up from 18,000 in 1989 to more than 25,000 cases last year. The reasons for the increase aren't clear.
Dr. William Roper, director of the national Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, says one of the main reasons is a low immunization rate among preschoolers.
