Pinellas patient told she was exposed to measles after emergency room visit: ‘A little scary’

Local woman worries about measles exposure

FOX 13's Aaron Mesmer reports on a woman who received a call saying she'd been exposed to the measles after visiting a Clearwater hospital earlier this month.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - A Pinellas County hospital patient is urging the community to be alert following a recent alarming call telling her she'd been exposed to measles.

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Courtney Fellows said she checked herself into the emergency room at Baycare Health's Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater on March 17. She said she received a call from the Florida Department of Health five days later.

READ: Measles: Your questions answered

"They said, ‘when you were at the E.R. on this day, you were exposed to the measles,’" Fellows said. "It was a little scary at first just thinking about the fact that it could have been like the person sitting right next to me, and I wouldn't have known."

Fellows said she's vaccinated but was still shaken by the conversation.

"It's a little stressful. I live with my friend's family and his mom checks my head for a rash every day, because she is a little nervous about it," she said, adding, "I definitely feel better knowing that I have both [doses] of the vaccines."

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The other side:

Baycare said it reports any measles cases to the Florida Health Department, which, so far, only shows one confirmed case in Miami-Dade County. In a statement to FOX 13, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County said, "we don't comment on an ongoing epidemiological investigation."

While it's unclear what happened in this situation, doctors at USF Health said this disease should have everyone's attention.

What they're saying:

"I'm desperately concerned about it. This is a very serious disease," said Dr. John Sinnott, the chairman of USF Health's Department of Internal Medicine. "It begins with a sore throat, a high fever, a runny nose, pink eye. People think, 'oh, it would go away.' But then it progresses."

Sinnott said it can develop into pneumonia or even death in extreme cases in unvaccinated young children or the elderly. He said he recommends older adults make sure they've received a booster shot, which many people may not realize they need.

MORE: Measles case in Maryland traced to traveler at Dulles Airport

"These people have underlying heart disease, underlying diabetes. One out of 12 have underlying cancer. These people do horribly with measles," he said. "It is about the most contagious disease now. In general, in an unvaccinated group, one person will infect 18 other people."

That concerns parents with young children, including Stephanie Kaltenbaugh.

"I have a little kids, you know, that don't have. They're not fully vaccinated yet," she said, adding her 2-year-old has not yet received the second of the two-dose Measles, Mumps and Rubella, or MMR, vaccine. "I have so many friends with infants that are under six months old that they don't even have their first shot."

Studies have shown the measles vaccine is at least 97% effective and, according to doctors, patients who are exposed to the virus can still receive protection from a vaccine within three days of exposure.

The Source: The information in this story was gathered through interviews with Courtney Fellows, Dr. John Sinnott and Stephanie Kaltenbaugh. It also includes information from the Florida Department of Health.

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