OT:Michigan: CDC error fueled measles scare, more tests coming

[Guest guest]

Wow, the CDC admitting a mistake. Now that is a switch, they should

be brought before Congress more often.

KC

Michigan: CDC error fueled measles scare, more tests coming

DetNews.com - Detroit,MI*

Doug Guthrie and Darren A. Nichols / The Detroit News

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel?

Dato=20071011 & Kategori=UPDATE & Lopenr=710110474 & Ref=AR & imw=Y

ANN ARBOR -- What started as a scare over a possible elementary

school measles outbreak turned into a mystery Thursday when

officials discovered an error with the test that supposedly

confirmed the virus in an Ann Arbor school girl.

More lab tests will be conducted, but officials late today still did

not rule out completely that the girl does not have measles.

Officials also confirmed a case at the measles of one girl at Angell

Elementary School.

" We now know this is not what we were told it was. It is not

measles, " said Michigan Department of Community Health spokesman

T.J. Bucholz. " But, we still don't know what it is. It could be a

rash or something else. "

A mix-up at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta apparently

resulted in officials in Michigan getting erroneous confirmation of

measles. Bucholz said there was an apparent " transcription error "

involving a real measles case in Texas.

" We think there was an error in the report, " said Anne Schuchat, CDC

director of the Center for Immunization and Respiratory

Diseases. " We're looking into the specifics into what happened. We

want to do our part to reduce this error. "

Lab results on tests of three children at Burns Park, who originally

had contact with the initial girl, came back with negative results.

A fourth at Bach Elementary School also came back negative.

A total of nine elementary and pre-school aged children have

symptoms and officials are still awaiting results from four of them,

said Bucholz.

Whatever it is, authorities don't believe the virus is life-

threatening.

" It can be a difficult diagnosis especially when they are

vaccinated, " said Jane Seward of the CDC. " You have to treat it like

the measles, but there is a possibility that another test can show a

different result. There are other illnesses that can look like

measles. "

Based on the positive test results from Atlanta, Washtenaw County

health officials launched an investigation of how an outbreak could

have started in Ann Arbor schools with a girl who had been

vaccinated against the highly contagious virus. The erroneous

confirmation in a Burns Park Elementary School student resulted in

tests on another six cases in four elementary schools and two at an

Ypsilanti child care center are under investigation.

All of the children had been inoculated against the virus, according

to Washtenaw County Health Department officials. The girl was

believed to have contracted the illness while vacationing in England.

Although rare, measles can be contracted by people who have been

vaccinated.

" It can happen, that a child gets vaccinated and still contracts

measles, but it is very, very rare, " Bucholz said.

A state health department disease expert was sent to Ann Arbor to

help Washtenaw County health officials with the process of

confirming illnesses and researching inoculation status. Ann Arbor

school officials said the other children being checked appeared to

have mild, rash and cold-like symptoms.

It is a requirement for all school children in Michigan top be

vaccinated against measles, but parents are allowed to opt out for

personal and religious reasons. Bucholz said the number of parents

who opt out statewide has been rising, but remains statistically

small.

Fewer than 10 students waived immunizations in Ann Arbor, according

to schools spokeswoman Liz Margolis. Those children were told to

stay home until Oct. 25 or Oct. 29, depending on when a suspicious

case was reporter at their school. While at home, they were

receiving home instruction for a few hours a week by visiting

district teachers, Margolis said.

The district sent home letters, posted information on the district

Web site and called parents of classmates who are being

investigated. The district barred students without inoculations from

leaving Nov. 1 for Hikone, Japan, as part of a foreign exchange

program. That area was hit in May with a measles outbreak. State

education officials were contacted about deferring MEAP testing for

students who were sent home. Testing is ongoing.

Washtenaw County health officials posted information for medical

professionals on the county's Web site. Many doctors have never seen

first-hand a case of measles, county health officials said.

Educators in the district couldn't remember the last time there was

a measles outbreak, Margolis said. Since the 1992-93 school year,

Michigan officials have required all students entering school to

receive inoculation against measles, mumps and rubella, a

vaccination called the MMR , and a follow-up booster shot.

Measles is a viral infection of the respiratory system and was a

widespread illness in the United States just a generation ago. Now,

thanks to almost universal immunization, only about 100 cases of

measles are confirmed annually, according to federal health

officials. In each of the past two years there only was one

confirmed case of measles in Michigan. In 2004 there were no cases.

In 2005, the biggest U.S. measles outbreak in a decade was traced to

a 17-year-old Indiana girl who had traveled to Romania, U.S. health

officials said Thursday. She hadn't been vaccinated and the highly

contagious infection spread to 34 people in the U.S.

You can reach Santiago Esparza at (313) 222-2127 or

sesparza@....