CHICAGO — Measles infections in five babies at a suburban Chicago day care center reveal a potential weak link in public-health efforts to contain the disease, officials said Friday, explaining that infants who are too young to be vaccinated and in close quarters are among the most vulnerable.
“They’re sort of like the canary in the mine,” said Dr. Tina Tan, an infectious disease specialist at Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital.
State regulations in Illinois and elsewhere generally require vaccinations for older children in day care centers, but measles shots are not recommended for children under age 1. Like most states, Illinois does not require vaccinations for day care center staffers.
“Unfortunately, there is no requirement. But this is on our radar,” said Melaney Arnold, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health.
The cases are among more than 100 nationwide this year, most of them linked with a Disneyland outbreak. Ten other young children at the suburban center were exposed and are being monitored for symptoms.
Cases this year also include an infant at a Santa Monica, Calif., day care center that closed temporarily this week. Fourteen infants from that center have been quarantined at home for three weeks.
Dr. Julie Morita, acting commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said the outbreaks highlight the major reasons for immunizations against a rare disease.
The shots are not just for self-protection. They also provide what experts call “herd immunity” — protection for those too young or too sick to be vaccinated, including infants in day care.
Measles can cause a cough, runny nose and rash. Infants are vulnerable to rare but dangerous complications that include pneumonia, deafness, permanent brain damage and death.
Dr. Saad Omer, an Emory University vaccine specialist, offers this advice to parents with children in day care: “Unless there is an ongoing outbreak in the specific day care, I don’t see any reason for keeping your child at home. But make sure when they become eligible for vaccines, they get the vaccine on time, on schedule.”
Illinois authorities were seeking the source of the day care outbreak but said there was no evidence that it is linked with the Disneyland cases. Possible sources include unvaccinated older children or adults who recently traveled overseas.
Most measles cases in the U.S. in recent years have stemmed from contact with someone who has been abroad.
KinderCare Learning Centers, which runs the Palatine, Ill., center where the five infected infants were enrolled, announced this week that it will start requiring measles vaccinations for staff members at its 1,500 locations nationwide.
About the vaccine
The measles vaccine is usually administered as MMR, a combination vaccine that provides protection against three viral diseases: measles, mumps and rubella. The federal government recommends the first dose of measles vaccine for children aged 12 months to 15 months, with a second dose before the start of kindergarten.
