TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Pima County is starting the new year with a confirmed case of the measles— and rising numbers of flu cases.
Pima County’s Health Director is urging people to roll up and vaccinate.
It is prime time for respiratory illness, we have been swapping germs by traveling, and now we’re headed back to work and to school. Now the Pima County Health Department says it’s found a measles case and flu cases are going up.
Pima Health Director Doctor Theresa Cullen says measles is not some insignificant childhood illness.
“Measles can cause pneumonia. It can cause neurological diseases and it can cause death.”
Pima County’s confirmed case put a patient in the hospital. Privacy law keeps the county from naming the patient’s age or gender but the county can say the person crossed the border from Mexico and passed through Santa Cruz County on the way to Pima County.
Doctor Cullen says watch out for a cough, a rash that starts on the head and spreads down the body, runny nose, and red eyes.
She says anyone with those symptoms should get medical help right away.
“In addition, while you're on your way to seeking care, please put a mask on so that you don't expose others. Remember, measles is transmitted respiratory if you have been, if you are, come into a room where someone has previously had measles, and it's within two hours of that individual being there, you are at risk of getting the disease.”
Doctor Cullen says measles is so contagious if you put 20 unvaccinated people near a measles patient, an average of 18 of them would catch measles.
Doctor Cullen says the measles vaccine works well. You can get it from your doctor or the health department.
Health officials are watching more than measles. They say flu cases are picking up and flu vaccination rates are declining. Flu cases have not hit the peak they reached last year but they’re getting close.
