Four of the nine children of a US family living in Cabuya, Cóbano, Puntarenas, tested positive for measles and has been confirmed by the Ministry of Health this week.
The minors are currently under isolation in their home along with the rest of the rest of their family.
The US natives are missionaries who apparently became in contact with the virus when they received a visit of another missionary from Oregon, USA, who was visiting the Nicoya Peninsula and Limón and showed symptoms of measles.
None of the 9 children (aged between 1 and 17) had any vaccination, they also do not attend the regular school system. All the members of the family are legal residents in Costa Rica but are not part of the social security service. (Caja)
The Ministry of Health has had the hard work of contacting the people that could have become infected due to their contact with the family, so far, they have vaccinated 54 people.
Back in February Costa Rica reported the first three cases this year of imported measles, three members of a French family that where visiting the country had to receive medical care at the Puntarenas Hospital.
Costa Rica has not presented native cases of measles since 2006 and the last time an imported case was reported was in 2014.
Over 7,000 cases of measles were reported in the American continent last year, the number of patients in the United States and Latin America has increased considerably in the past year.
Measles is a highly contagious infection that is caused by a virus and that consists in a rash that generally starts on the face and quickly spreads to the rest of the body, other symptoms include high fever, runny nose, cough, body ache and swollen eyes; complications can cause pneumonia, diarrhea, blindness and encephalitis.
A person with measles can spread the virus to others for about eight days, starting four days before the rash appears and ending when the rash has been present for four days.
Measles vaccine has proven effective in preventing the disease resulting in a 75% decrease in deaths from the virus between 2000 and 2013.
The minors are currently under isolation in their home along with the rest of the rest of their family.
The US natives are missionaries who apparently became in contact with the virus when they received a visit of another missionary from Oregon, USA, who was visiting the Nicoya Peninsula and Limón and showed symptoms of measles.
None of the 9 children (aged between 1 and 17) had any vaccination, they also do not attend the regular school system. All the members of the family are legal residents in Costa Rica but are not part of the social security service. (Caja)
The Ministry of Health has had the hard work of contacting the people that could have become infected due to their contact with the family, so far, they have vaccinated 54 people.
Back in February Costa Rica reported the first three cases this year of imported measles, three members of a French family that where visiting the country had to receive medical care at the Puntarenas Hospital.
Costa Rica has not presented native cases of measles since 2006 and the last time an imported case was reported was in 2014.
Over 7,000 cases of measles were reported in the American continent last year, the number of patients in the United States and Latin America has increased considerably in the past year.
Measles is a highly contagious infection that is caused by a virus and that consists in a rash that generally starts on the face and quickly spreads to the rest of the body, other symptoms include high fever, runny nose, cough, body ache and swollen eyes; complications can cause pneumonia, diarrhea, blindness and encephalitis.
A person with measles can spread the virus to others for about eight days, starting four days before the rash appears and ending when the rash has been present for four days.
Measles vaccine has proven effective in preventing the disease resulting in a 75% decrease in deaths from the virus between 2000 and 2013.
