Adult diagnosed as Illinois’ 15th measles case

An adult in suburban Cook County has tested positive for measles, state and county health officials said Wednesday.

There have now been 15 cases of measles in Illinois, all in Cook County. Most of these have had ties to a KinderCare daycare center in Palatine.

But the Cook County Department of Public Health said, “as of now, we have no direct link to any of the previously reported measles cases.”

Sean McDermott, a spokesman for the Cook County Department of Public Health, said the source of the infection is unknown, as well as if the new person who was infected was vaccinated or not.

The Cook County Department of Public Health is in the process of identifying personal contacts of this new person, who lives in northern suburban Cook County, they said.

Potential exposures in suburban Cook County may have occurred to:

· Customers at LaRosita Laundromat (1212 E. Dundee Rd. Palatine) on February 16, 2015 between 7:00 am and 12:30 pm.

· Patients and visitors at the Vista Clinic (1585 North Rand Road, Palatine) on February 19, 2015, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Of the 15 cases so far, 13 have been associated with KinderCare Learning Center, including one child in Chicago. All of the children were too young to be vaccinated, the Illinois Department of Public Health has said. But one was an adult who also had not been vaccinated, Cook County Department of Public Health has said.

An adult who had no ties to KinderCare was the first case reported in Illinois, in January. That person had not been vaccinated either, the county health department said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week that eight of the daycare center cases were tied to the outbreak in December at Disneyland, which had infected 141 at that time, the Associated Press says.

News of the cluster of cases at KinderCare broke in early February. The national daycare chain has since mandated that all staff members be vaccinated.

Measles is highly contagious, and state health officials urged residents to make sure they are current on their vaccinations.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says children should be given the first dose of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine when they are 12 to 15 months old. The second dose usually is given before the start of kindergarten at 4 to 6 years of age.