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Officials: Baby With Measles Boards Flight To Hawaii

POSTED: 5:10 pm PST February 11, 2008
UPDATED: 6:13 pm PST February 12, 2008

An 11-month-old baby who was treated at the Children's Clinic in La Jolla before traveling to Hawaii has contracted measles, prompting San Diego County health officials Tuesday to warn air passengers they may have been exposed to the disease.

It is the fifth confirmed case of measles stemming from an outbreak of the disease locally, according to officials with the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency.

Health officials suspect that another five people -- including a 10-month-old infant hospitalized yesterday and a 2-year-old toddler -- are also infected with measles.

The 11-month-old infant is believed to have acquired the disease at Children's Clinic, where the first measles patient received care on Jan. 25, according to the HHSA.

The five pending measles cases are also believed to have been contracted at the Children's Clinic, according to health officials, who are calling it the county's first outbreak of measles in children in 17 years.

The baby traveled with family members to Hawaii on Saturday and is now in isolation at a military base until there is no further risk of the disease spreading, according to the HHSA.

Officials with the Hawaii Department of Health are working to notify passengers on Hawaiian Airlines Flight 15, which departed Lindbergh Field's Terminal 2 on Saturday morning bound for Honolulu.

"It is extremely important that passengers, particularly children, in close proximity to this area of the airport around that time (8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.) are aware that they may have been exposed to the disease," said Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county's public health officer.

Local health officials are also notifying parents whose children attend the Alcott Elementary School Infant & Toddler Development Program and the School of the Madeleine that their children may have been exposed to measles by the 2-year-old suspected to have the disease.

The child is enrolled at Alcott and briefly visited the School of the Madeleine on Feb. 6, according to the HHSA.

Sixteen children at a local daycare and about 58 youngsters at a swimming school may have also been exposed, and county health officials have notified their parents, according to the HHSA.

Children younger than 12 months are most at risk because they have not yet received the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine.


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