Northern California health workers are scrambling to control a growing measles outbreak centered on a region that is still reeling from the most destructive wildfire in state history.
In November, the Camp fire decimated the town of Paradise, killed 85 people and left behind billions of dollars in damage. Butte County, about 90 miles north of Sacramento, continues to grapple with the consequences of the blaze.
So the arrival of measles seems to residents like just the latest in a string of bad luck. As of Friday, at least 15 Californians had been diagnosed with measles as part of the outbreak that began last month in Butte County, according to health officials.
It feels like we keep getting hit with a new disaster every few months, said Cassie Miracle, who runs a health coalition in Chico, the biggest city in Butte County.
Measles outbreaks have been popping up across the country this year, with hundreds of cases in New York and Washington state. Experts chalk it up to fewer people being vaccinated in the U.S. and across the world; Americans are now more likely to encounter measles abroad, and when they return, the infection is more likely to spread here.
The Butte County outbreak began when a man caught measles in March during a trip to the Philippines, where thousands of people have come down with the disease this year. The outbreak has expanded outside Butte to Placer, Tehama and Shasta counties.
In attempting to halt a measles outbreak, health workers map every place patients went for four days before and after the characteristic rash appeared, when patients are thought to be the most infectious.
Then the investigators try to contact anyone who may have come near the patient and verify if they are immunized. If those people already have measles symptoms, they will quarantine them. Its an arduous process in normal circumstances.
But last year, the Camp fires destruction of 13,900 homes included some belonging to Butte County health staff. Some employees moved away, further stretching a department that was struggling to meet the needs of its beleaguered community, said department spokeswoman Lisa Almaguer.
In the fires immediate aftermath, county health workers sheltered thousands of displaced animals and treated people living in shelters, where there was also a norovirus outbreak. Now, workers are still verifying that properties are cleared of hazardous materials and are helping deal with a major water contamination problem, she said.
The measles outbreak has confirmed what feels like a chaotic new normal, Almaguer said. The department is considering calling in reinforcements to help with measles control as the outbreak grows, she said.
We are having those conversations, she said. Our staff is working much longer hours during the day than normal, and we have staff on call over the weekends, and we continue to investigate suspect cases.
U.S. health officials declared measles eradicated in 2000, but so far this year there have been 555 cases nationwide, they say. One of the most contagious diseases in the world, measles is the first to return when a regions immunity falls, experts say.
In California, 23 people statewide have been diagnosed with measles this year, according to state data released Thursday. Though the Butte County outbreak is the largest cluster, there have been a smattering of cases around the state.
On Wednesday, health officials warned that a person infected with measles spent time on the Google campus in Silicon Valley. Recently, Long Beach officials alerted travelers that a passenger visited the airport twice while infectious.
In Placer County, health staff started scrambling last month when three people fell sick after visiting the home of the original Butte County patient, said Michael Romero, program manager for the public health department.
