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A representation of a measles virus particle. Image via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/p>\nA representation of a measles virus particle. Image via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/p>\n
Vermont health officials have detected measles in Washington County wastewater.<\/p>\n
The finding triggered an alert to area health care providers, specifically those at Central Vermont Medical Center, in Berlin, to be on the lookout for the disease if patients come in with measles symptoms \u2014\u00a0which can include<\/a> a blotchy rash, a high fever, dry cough and runny nose. Measles can be deadly, especially in children, when it leads to brain swelling or severe respiratory issues.<\/p>\n The detection spurs more frequent testing from the state, according to Rick Hildebrant, Vermont\u2019s health commissioner. The state health department wants to see if the case is isolated to one county or whether the disease is detected throughout the state, he said. The state\u2019s wastewater detection system<\/a> collects and tests samples one to three times a week at six sites in Vermont.<\/p>\n The wastewater testing system is able to show the concentration of virus appearing in sewage, Hildebrant said. And though many variables can dilute what appears in wastewater, the relatively low concentration detected seems to suggest that this positive finding is probably a single case, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Given the prevalence of measles around the U.S. and the world right now, Hildebrant said he and the state\u2019s epidemiologists are not surprised that the disease has been detected in Vermont.\u00a0<\/p>\n More than 870 people have been infected<\/a> with measles since October in a South Carolina outbreak. Across the border, Canada has seen a resurgence in measles cases<\/a> so severe that it lost its official status as measles-free late last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n The rise of the disease in the U.S. is correlated with a drop in vaccination<\/a> against the measles.\u00a0<\/p>\n The U.S. has seen an increase in vaccine skepticism and a loosening of immunization guidelines at the highest levels of the federal government under the leadership of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who co-founded the vaccine-averse group Children\u2019s Health Defense.<\/p>\n