Contagious traveler with measles stopped at Sea-Tac on way to PDX
SEATTLE (AP) - The Seattle and King County Public Health Department reports a passenger with contagious measles flew from Amsterdam to Portland, Ore., through a connecting flight in Seattle on Jan. 18.
Measles is highly contagious, although most people are immune to the disease because of vaccinations. Spokesman James Apa says the health department warning is for people who are unsure of their immunity and develop an illness with fever or an unexplained rash before Feb. 9.
Measles, also known as rubeola, causes fever, rash, cough, and red, watery eyes.
People at highest risk include those who are unvaccinated, as well as pregnant women, infants under six months and those with weakened immune systems.
People who flew on Jan. 18 through a south or north gate or took an airport train may have been exposed. After arriving in Oregon, the traveler received medical treatment and public health authorities were notified.
Wait -- when this was first reported last week, there were a number of commenters saying this was the fault of people crossing our southern border illegally. Â How are we going to blame this on Hispanics if it came from Amsterdam? Â Oh....they probably flew to Amsterdam from Guadalajara, then came here. Â I get it now -- never mind. Â Amsterlajara? Â
When I was in the service I was injected with all sorts of things to combat all sorts of other things. Now my immune system is killing bugs that are like 15ft away from me..
Oh no! My wife and I were at that airport heading out of the country on that date. Lucky no symptoms for either of us.
Reminds me of...Contagion!Â
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Some people really just don't think....
THANK YOU!
Let me guess, another product of the anti-vaccine crowd.
 @browntown Why do pro vaccine people care if some people are anti-vaccine? Get vaccinated and you won't catch the disease from the 'anti-vaccine crowd'. If you're vaccinated you're good to go, right? Otherwise, why would you get vaccinated?
 @_Ptown_  @browntown Because you're wrong.
 @_Ptown_  @browntown There is an effect called "herd immunity". When the percentage of a population with immunity reaches a certain level (estimates vary, but somewhere around 80%), there are benefits to the entire population. A disease just can not survive in an environment where too large of a percentage of the potential hosts are immune.
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This is important, because in any population there are always some people who do not have immunity. The vaccine may not have properly sensitized their immune system, or their immune system might be weakened, or they may be too young to be vaccinated.
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In the case of fast-mutating viruses, like influenza, herd immunity may also slow the rate of mutation, reducing the spread of the virus even among people with immunity to the current strain.
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You can google away on this, but try to avoid sites written and maintained by people without at least some valid credentials. Microbiology is rarely taught at acting schools.
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http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/pages/communityimmunity.aspx
 @_Ptown_  @browntown Because some people are allergic to the vaccines and can't get them.  People who don't get vaccinated put those people at risk.  Duh!!  I have a grandson that is allergic to the MMR vaccine and the anti-vaccine crowd put his life at risk!
After arriving in Oregon, the traveler received medical treatment and public health authorities were notified.
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Sounds more like the person didn't even know they had it.
Luckily for them I have spent the last several months eating PURE MEASLES just to combat this very moment. My resistance to the contagion is remarkable.Â
WOW and I thought 4 Military Choppers racing at break neck speed as interesting. This beats them 5 to one, Unless there racing to prevent an invasion.
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Reminds me of the movie Contagion.
biological terrorism, see they can still use the airlines against us. we need more invasive screening by the tsa!!!
Contagious diseases are the quickest way to spread terrorism an an unaware population. Not just for the fear of contracting the illness, but for the resources that need to be used to combat whatever illness comes in.
 @jpkÂ
True. But terrorists probably won't use vaccine preventable virus' in the US, we still have a majority of the population vaccinated. However, these outbreaks of norovirus have me concerned.
Yup! Agreed! But I was referring more to those parents who opt out of getting their chillun vaccinated nowadays. Obviously, true terrorists would find some agent that there is now no vaccine against.