FOUR CORNERS, Montana — Local health officials alerted the public Thursday that it’s investigating five confirmed cases of measles in a group of children and adults who were exposed while traveling outside Montana.
Emergency response by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) and the Gallatin City-County Health Department (GCCHD) included contact tracing, leading to a pair of businesses along Highway 191 that the infected individuals visited and may have contaminated.
The measles virus spreads through airborne droplets and remains infectious in the air for up to 2 hours after an infected person leaves an area. Around 90% of unvaccinated close contacts contract the virus.
Montana health officials told Cowboy State Daily on Friday that all the people infected live in Gallatin County and are currently isolated at home. The five people are unvaccinated, or their vaccine status is unknown.
Here’s how these infections came to light.
“On April 11, we received an initial notification regarding individuals who had been potentially exposed to measles, and then following the development of symptoms in those individuals testing was conducted at the Montana Public Health Laboratory and then those cases were officially confirmed yesterday on April 17,” said Gallatin City-County Health Officer Lori Christenson.
Christenson detailed how five people, children and adults from two households in Gallatin County, recently attended the same event out of state. Christenson said she could not identify the type of event or its exact location, but these five people were there together.
Then around April 11, the five people were alerted by others who attended the event that they may have been exposed to measles.
“They did a great thing,” said Dr. Peter Bulger, infectious disease medical director at Bozeman Health and Gallatin City-County Health Department. They reported it.
First, the five infected people were seen by physicians via a telehealth visit to prevent further infections.
Then, in a scene reminiscent of the COVID-19 pandemic, they drove to Bozeman Health Deaconess Regional Medical Center, where medical professionals in protective gear took samples from them while they remained in their vehicle.
“I think flashback to the pandemic is like the phrase of the day today,” said Bulger. “I think everybody's feeling a little sort of some PTSD about this.”
Measles Hot Zones?
As the public health team in Gallatin County traced the movements of the five infected people, they pinpointed two businesses on U.S. Highway 191: North Coast Electric in Four Corners and Interwest Tire in Belgrade.
This week, tire stores across Gallatin County are full of customers coming in to switch out their studded snow tires for summer tires. Anyone present at Interwest Tire between noon-4 p.m. on April 14 could have been exposed, according to public health officials.
Three days earlier on April 11, between 7:30-10:30 a.m. at North Coast Electric, exposures to the measles virus were possible.
Anyone concerned about their proximity to these locations during these times should contact the Gallatin County Health Department if they experience a cough, runny nose, fevers, red watery eyes, and then the appearance of little white spots in their mouth.
A rash often develops, sometimes starting on the forehead and then spreading down the rest of the body.
On Friday, public health officials said no new suspected infections had been reported.
“We have no evidence whatsoever that there is a connection to any other community in Montana outside of Gallatin County or to Wyoming at this time,” said Bulger.
Poster In The Hall
Family nurse practitioner Liesel Pessl worked at Community Health Partners, a federally funded health center in Gallatin County, for 24 years. In that time, she never treated a patient suspected of a measles infection.
“We had a poster in our hallway showing common or what historically have been common infections that had rashes that we might have to identify at some point,” Pessl said. “But over the course of my time there, I never once saw a measles rash. It has a pretty definitive rash inside the mouth that is unique.”
Pessl did encounter parents who were hesitant to vaccinate their children with the Measles-Mumps-Rubella vaccine, also known as the MMR.
“When you talk to patients about vaccines and they are hesitant, what I would always try to do is help understand what their concerns were,” said Pessl. “If it were an autism concern, we could try to have that discussion about how, yes there was a study, but it was retracted and found to not be accurate.”
The medical staff contacted by Cowboy State Daily also warned about misinformation about vitamin A. It apparently helps reduce symptoms in children, but must be administered in precise doses because too much can cause an overdose and result in liver damage.
As of April 17, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a total of 800 confirmed measles cases were being monitored in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York State, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington and Texas.
And now Montana.
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
