As measles cases start in Indiana, Petalas warns of virus' lasting impact

Chicago Tribune

11-04-2025

When he was a teenager, Lake County Treasurer John Petalas recalled being at a dance at his Greek church when he upset one of the guests, who vented to his friend.
'Somebody walked up to one of my best friends and said, 'What the hell is wrong with your friend Petalas? I've been talking to him for five minutes and he's blowing me off,'' Petalas said. 'My friend smiled and he said, 'What side of him were you standing on?''
Petalas, who will turn 70 years old in May, said he was about 5 years old when he had the measles — about two or three years before the vaccine was available.
Petalas doesn't remember much about being sick, just the 'God awful, terrible' syrup the doctor made him take and his heartbroken mother, who he knows would've vaccinated him against the measles because she had taken him to receive the other vaccines available at the time.
But, Petalas said his case of the measles resulted in an ear infection that caused neurological damage in his left ear, leaving him completely deaf in one ear at 5 years old.
Throughout his life, being deaf in one ear has presented many challenges, Petalas said. Over the years, anyone talking on his left side — much like the person at the dance — gets upset because they talk to him and assume he's ignoring them.
As a student, Petalas said 'teachers weren't as patient' with him when he couldn't hear a lesson. As he learned to drive, and to this day, he has had to work harder to look for an emergency vehicle when he hears a siren because he can't tell which direction the sound is coming from, Petalas said.
'It's been a lot of challenges. When you're a kid, kids make fun of you, so I've had to contend with that,' Petalas said. 'Even to this day, so many years later, there's no cure for the nerve deafness.'
The Indiana Department of Health reported the state's first confirmed case of measles for 2025 on Monday in Allen County and that number grew to 6 on Wednesday; four are unvaccinated minors and two are adults whose vaccination status is unknown, according to the Associated Press, Measles cases have only been reported in Allen County so far.
New Mexico, Indiana, Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas have active measles outbreaks.
Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that's airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs, according to the Associated Press. It is preventable through vaccines, and has been considered eliminated from the U.S. since 2000, but dipping vaccination rates have led to its reemergence and it spreads quickly among unvaccinated individuals.
As a virus, measles can remain in the air for 2 to 3 hours after an infected person leaves a room. Symptoms of fever, cough, runny nose, red and water eyes and characteristic rash can begin appearing anywhere between 7 to 21 days after someone has been exposed to the virus, said Thomas Duszynski, epidemiology education director at Indiana University Indianapolis.
Some of the virus' more serious complications include ear infections that lead to deafness, blindness, pneumonia and brain swelling, Duszynski said.
There is no treatment for someone who has the measles, Duszynski said. To be protected, children have typically received the measles vaccine, which became widely available in 1963, he said.
The measles vaccine comes in two doses, known as the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella. The first dose is given to children between 12 and 15 months and the second dose is given between the age of 4 or 6 years old, Duszynski said.
Lake County's MMR vaccine completion rate was about 79.6% in 2024, according to the IDOH dashboard, which is under the state average of 84.6%. Porter County, in contrast, was above the state average with 85.3% completion rate.
Measles has been spreading rampantly in recent months, Duszynski said, with 285 measles cases and no deaths reported in the U.S. in 2024 compared to more than 700 measles cases, including three deaths, through Friday in 2025.
The virus has been making a comeback because the number of unvaccinated people has been increasing, Duszynski said. The best way to work through vaccine hesitancy, he said, is for people to talk to their healthcare providers and ask any and all questions.
'Ever since vaccines have been around, there has been vaccine hesitancy. People unsure about the safety or the efficacy of the vaccines,' Duszynski said. 'One thing that we know, since the measles vaccine has been widely used since the 1960s, that the number of measles cases have dropped dramatically, the number of deaths have dropped dramatically, the number of hospitalizations have dropped dramatically.'
To achieve herd immunity — which protects members of the community who cannot get vaccines due to certain health conditions, vaccination rates should surpass 95%, according to the World Health Organization.
'The safety and the efficacy of the vaccine is really, really high. It's probably one of the most efficacious vaccines we have, so much so, that if you get both doses of the vaccine it protects 97% of the population,' Duszynski said.
On Thursday, Hammond resident Cassandra Seibert received her MMR vaccine at the Lake County Health Department's Vaccination Clinic at the Hammond Sportsplex and Community Center.
As a mother, Seibert said it was important for her to make sure she was vaccinated against measles.
'I thought it was scary because what if something happens to my kids, and then I get measles and can't help them,' Seibert said.
Seibert also needed to make sure she had the vaccine for a medical assistant externship.
The rise of measles cases encouraged Seibert to get vaccinated, and she said the health department's clinic was a convenient way to get that done.
'I feel much more comfortable now,' Seibert said.
Marianne Kundich, nursing supervisor at the health department, said the department holds outside clinics once a month. With the confirmed measles cases in Allen County, the department began offering MMR vaccines.
Most patients the clinic helps are children, Kundich said, because the MMR vaccine is required before school starts.
'There is very little breakthrough disease with the vaccine,' Kundich said. 'You can't always count on vaccines being 100% effective, but for the MMR, the majority is definitely protected.'
As measles spreads in Indiana and throughout the country, Petalas said what has angered him the most has been the people who don't believe in vaccinating their children.
'Having experienced that personally, I think they are wrong,' Petalas said. 'I think they feel that way because they haven't experienced anything like this. They may get lucky. Their kid may get the measles and go through it successfully, but is it worth taking a chance?'
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been 'reluctant' to tell people to get vaccinated against the measles, Petalas said, and he should 'be more forceful because it is a disease that could hurt a lot of kids in more ways than one.'
Petalas said he made sure his children and grandchildren received the MMR vaccine, and he would encourage others to vaccinate their children because it can help protect them.
'It's a dangerous disease,' Petalas said. 'We hear about the people who have died, but we don't hear about all of the other maladies that have occurred because of the disease.'