After a Boston University student enrolled in summer classes was diagnosed with measles late last week, Student Health Services is requiring summer students to prove they are protected against the highly contagious skin disease by June 5.
The infected student was diagnosed after two visits to SHS, and she has the only probable case, said BU spokesman Colin Riley. The student, a 20-year-old woman from India, did not attend any classes and lives off campus in Brookline, where she is being treated, according to the Communications Office of the Boston Public Health Commission.
BU officials notified the BPHC, which asked the school to alert students and staff on campus. The university shortly after sent letters with information on preventing the spread of measles, Riley said.
Students must provide documentation of immunizations by June 5 to help prevent a further spread of the infection, according to the SHS website. SHS will provide opportunities for students to get free vaccinations.
“Students are required to provide documentation of immunity to measles prior to participating in any program operated at Boston University this summer,” Riley said in an email, “and Massachusetts regulations require that students provide proof of immunity to measles as a condition of enrollment for university study.”
Students who do not obey the state law for measles vaccination will receive a warning email from BU, but students can also check their status on the Student Link, according to the SHS website.
To comply with regulations, the SHS website states people can either send documentation of receiving two doses of measles vaccination after their first birthday and after Jan. 1, 1968, or send results from a blood test proving they are immune to measles. The other way to comply is to prove birth before Jan. 1, 1957, when measles was common.
The SHS website also requests summer students fill out and have their doctors sign the “Student Information, Medical History and Physical Report” section on measles, mumps and rubella by June 5.
Under Massachusetts law, if students fail to provide documentation of measles immunizations, they will not be allowed to study at BU over the summer, Riley said.
A vaccination for measles, a highly contagious disease, has been available for 40 years, and most children in developed countries are given the vaccine at an early age. However, in lesser-developed countries, it is still a common disease, according to the World Health Organization.
Symptoms of measles include a fever and a rash on the face and upper neck, which eventually spreads to the feet and hands, the WHO website states. The disease is spread by airborne droplets and through sneezing or coughing, and it can infect anyone in close contact with an infected person.
