The East Central District Health Department, which reported four measles cases in less than a week a little more than two weeks ago, has not seen any since.
Molly Pofahl, chief public health officer for the department, said the containment of the disease so far is thanks in no small part to the department’s willingness to bring care to area residents.
“We did host two vaccine clinics for the measles, mumps and rubella MMR vaccine in case people’s kids weren’t vaccinated or they weren’t sure if they were vaccinated could come get those shots.”
Those clinics sprung up in Columbus in the span of a week, Pohfal says. “That’s no small feat for a rural health department.”
“A lot of us in local health departments have pretty limited capacity. We wear a lot of different hats, but this is all part of our preparedness effort. I can’t say enough about how important it was that our local health departments worked together.”
Her department alone covers Platte, Boone, Nance, and Colfax counties. That’s a lot of ground, and Pofahl says collaboration from the local level to the state level helped keep the spread of measles to a minimum.
“It was not expected, but we were prepared,” she said.
“We’ve been preparing for quite some time, and so when we saw those numbers start to creep up, we worked with all the other local health departments and the state department on processes.”
The cases were reported in late December and early January, and all of them were in the same household. Pohfal said there haven’t been any more reported under that roof, and monitoring continues.
“Everyone’s doing well,” she said.
She adds that while no new cases have been reported, Nebraskans should stay on alert for symptoms of measles, which can often look like flu symptoms: cough, runny nose and fever. But, she said, there are two giveaways.
“Shortly after those you’ll get a rash, and what we call Koplik spots: little white spots in the back of the mouth and cheeks.”
Pofahl said anyone with those symptoms should consult their physician and also quarantine for the standard 21 days.