A Suffolk County infant who is likely to contract measles while traveling abroad and who was too young to receive the vaccine has recovered after returning home from the hospital, health officials said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, people who were in certain areas of Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park between March 3rd and March 6th could be exposed to measles and being monitored.
Suffolk County Health Director Dr. Gregson Piggott said 12 county residents were in hospitals during that time, of whom 11 have been vaccinated. The 12th was a young infant, usually too young to receive the measles vaccine, and was treated with immunoglobulin. This helps prevent measles even if a person is exposed to the virus. The infant is currently in quarantine.
Nassau County Health Department officials said they are also monitoring local residents who may have been exposed at Cohen Children’s Medical Center during that period, but who did not provide many residents.
“As this is an ongoing investigation, we cannot provide further information,” wrote Alyssa Zohrabian, a spokesman for the Health Department, in an email.
Dr Arena Zafra, an infectious disease doctor at St. Catharine at Catholic Health at Siena Hospital in Smithtown, says measles is a highly contagious disease and is particularly dangerous for young children.
“There is a high risk of complications in children under the age of five,” she said. “These are pneumonia, severe ear infections, what we really worry about is encephalitis, or brain inflammation.”
Children are generally vaccinated against measles between 12 and 15 months, so babies are usually not vaccinated in the first year of their lives. The second dose is given between the ages of 4 and 6.
Zahra said in some circumstances, six-month-old babies can receive early doses of the vaccine if they travel abroad. Similarly, children may receive a faster second dose when they are in an area of active development.
Suffolk County’s children with measles are the third most infectious disease in the state this year, first outside of New York City, state health officials said.
Piggott said the only revelations in Suffolk County are in the children’s families. (Cohen Children’s Hospital is located on the Nassau-Queens border.) The toddler was not enrolled in schools or recreational programs that would have been close to other children, Piggott said.
The Department of Health said it was not related to measles outbreaks elsewhere in the United States. The majority of cases have been reported in Texas, with 223 people testing positive for measles, including one school-age child who died of the disease. The child had not received the measles vaccine.
Zahra said that all parents should be aware of measles symptoms for about 10-12 days after exposure.
She says the illness can begin with a high fever, runny nose and cough, then a small white spot in the mouth appears, known as a coprick spot. The patient then develops a rash of red spots that begin on the face and head before spreading over the rest of the body.
“If you think people have any kind of exposure, it’s important to seek medical attention,” Zara said.
According to the New York State Department of Health, anyone who was in Cohen’s pediatric emergency department on March 3 or 4, or “visiting three units of hospitalized patients” between March 3 and 6, may have been exposed to measles.
The hospital is working with health officials “under established exposure protocols,” according to a hospital statement that sent an email to Newsday on Tuesday. Northwell officials said there was no new information about young measles patients or people who may have been exposed.
In March 2024, children under the age of five in Nassau County were also treated at Cohens due to measles. It was not clear how the child was ill and that he had not travelled abroad, where measles was more common. The child recovered and was released.
Previously, according to state health department data, the number of measles cases on the long island was the highest recent, when there were three in Nassau and three in Suffolk.
