Houston sees first case of measles since 2001

Just as everyone's starting to get over the fall crud, another health issue faces Houston: The first cases of measles in four years.

Three people — two females and a child — went to a Mexican resort for Thanksgiving; one definitely picked up a case of the measles and the other two might have. Though the three are past the contagious stage now, officials are investigating secondary cases among people they came in contact with.

[Harris County HHS spokeswoman Kathy] Barton said Houston officials are telling people exposed to the three recent travelers to Mexico to be vaccinated unless they've already had both doses of the vaccine currently in use, had a doctor-confirmed case of measles or were born before 1957 (such people are considered naturally immune). She said people on the airplane aren't being contacted because they were exposed prior to the contagious period.

Symptoms of measles include a sore throat, cough, white spots inside the mouth and an itchy skin rash that usually lasts between four and seven days. Oh, and sensitivity to light — people with the measles may have to spend days in a dark room. The measles are highly contagious: Before most people started taking immunizations for measles, most everyone got the disease before they turned 20. (Fortunately for us in these relatively measle-free days, cases were documented for science on shows like Leave It to Beaver and The Brady Bunch.) The disease can also be deadly — before widespread immunization, about 500 deaths from measles were reported every year in the U.S.

The problem locally is that Houston has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country. In fact, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claimed a national measles outbreak between 1989 and 1991 started here. So hey, people, get your shots — Houstonist doesn't want to be confined to a dark room, staring at a computer screen all day.

Oh, wait ...