Another county measles case confirmed
An eleventh Ashtabula County measles case was recently confirmed by the county health department.
ACHD Health Commissioner Jay Becker said the case was an adult who should be completing their isolation period soon.
'We have not heard of any others,' he said.
Becker said the department is monitoring suspected cases related to the eleventh confirmed case.
'We continue to monitor the person's household,' he said.
Becker said all members of the household are isolating.
The department should know of any more cases from the household in the next few days, he said.
The ACHD and the Ohio Department of Health announced the first measles case in the county March 20.
Both agencies announced there was an outbreak in the county March 25, after nine more cases were confirmed.
The cases were in people who were unvaccinated. One person was hospitalized for measles.
The first case in the county was someone who was exposed to another person who traveled internationally.
Becker said the eleventh case was an unvaccinated person who traveled internationally and was infected outside the United States.
'There is no link to the other 10 [cases],' he said.
The health department has been offering regular vaccine clinics.
'There's a lot of clinics we put together,' Becker said.
The ACHD offers walk-in vaccine clinics 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Friday at its office, at 12 West Jefferson St. in Jefferson.
'Vaccination is the way to [go], moving forward,' Becker said.
People can go to the ACHD's website, go to the nursing department and click on immunizations to see a list of clinics.
Alongside the in-office clinics, the health department has a regular set of community neighborhood mobile clinics scheduled.
The department also schedules clinics for the Amish community.
'We want to get you vaccinated,' he said.
Becker said he is not optimistic about the future of measles, while monitoring its national progress.
'I really don't see this measles going away,' he said.
Becker encouraged people to get vaccinated.
'It would be best, if you have any questions about your vaccine status, [to] get a vaccine,' he said.
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