Milwaukee measles cases; city's health commissioner fields questions

Milwaukee health commissioner fields questions about measles

Milwaukee Health Commissioner Mike Totoraitis held a news conference regarding local measles cases and potential exposures.

MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee Commissioner of Health Mike Totoraitis fielded questions on Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 10, tied to cases of measles reported in the city. 

6 Milwaukee residents potentially exposed

What we know:

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) has identified six Milwaukee residents potentially exposed to the measles on a recent flight that traveled to Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport. DHS says a person infected with measles flew from Phoenix to Milwaukee after being told to isolate.

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DHS officials said on Friday, Feb. 6, that the case is linked to a confirmed case in another state, and comes as DHS' Wisconsin Wastewater Monitoring Program also detected measles in untreated wastewater collected in Walworth County. This is the first detection of measles in wastewater in Wisconsin.

What they're saying:

"So we're in collaboration with the CDC and other, state health departments and other local health departments here in Wisconsin," Totoraitis said. "Measles can stay aerosolized in the air for up to two hours after infectious person is present in that room."

The commissioner said officials are also monitoring closely wastewater data.

"We really were, excited this time around to have, wastewater surveillance for measles. And it did pick up the case in Walworth," Totoraitis said. "So we're we're really interested to see potentially, if there's any detects here in the Milwaukee sewer shed. Because obviously, that's encompassing of the city of Milwaukee and other jurisdictions in the region."

Mike Totoraitis, Milwaukee Health Commissioner

Totoraitis said his team is working in collaboration with the other southeastern local health departments to make sure that everybody is prepared to do contact tracing and continuing to investigate as needed.

Officials said the case was exposed to measles out of state and is not linked to current confirmed cases in Waukesha County and Dane County. No additional personal identifying or health information will be released by DHS.

Doctors warn that measles spreads extraordinarily easily.

Exposure identified

What we know:

Officials with the Milwaukee Health Department said on Monday, Feb. 9, that they have completed their initial outreach to the six residents who may have been exposed to measles. They are now working with airport officials to connect with potentially impacted staff.

No calls from the public have been received to date.

Check immunization records

What you can do:

A person's immunization records can be accessed through the Wisconsin Immunization Registry (WIR). Anyone unable to access their records should contact their health care provider or MHD for assistance. 

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MMR vaccines are available at doctors’ offices, some pharmacies, and at no cost at MHD Clinics during walk-in immunization hours.  

According to state data, Wisconsin ranks among the three lowest states in the country for kindergarten measles vaccination rates, at 84.8%. Public health experts say herd immunity requires about 95%.