St. Louis County Department of Public Health has announced its first confirmed measles case in twenty years.
The director of the St. Louis County Department of Public Health, Dr. Kanika Cunningham, says the case is in a St. Louis County man who reportedly boarded a Chicago-bound train on August 27th that was later determned to contain a measles case who had boarded in Sedalia, Missouri.
"What's really interesting is the individual is fully vaccinated so we're getting a lot of questions, concerns, about you know all this talk has been around people who are unvaccinated but we still encourage getting vaccinated, making sure you check your vaccine status - because it's 97% effective and also can decrease the severity of your symptoms. So, I am glad the individual was vaccinated. It also can help reduce the spread of measles to others - it's less contagious," Dr. Cunningham tells our KMOX Health Editor Fred Bodimer.
Dr. Cunningham says if you were on that train, you should already have been seeing symptoms of a high fever, cough, runny nose, red or watery eyes and that telltale rash.
