City, News

New suspected case of measles in UMass-Boston professor

A University of Massachusetts-Boston professor is now one of four people who may have the measles in the Boston area, according to the Boston Public Health Commission.

UMass-Boston officials were informed Monday by the professor, who is in his late forties.

Patrick Day, the vice chancellor for student affairs, and Kathleen Golden McAndrew, the assistant vice chancellor for student affairs, released a statement to the university community on Tuesday informing students and staff of the possible case of measles on campus.

“Yesterday a faculty member here at UMass-Boston informed University Health Services that he has been diagnosed with possible measles. Measles is caused by a virus that is spread through the air and is very contagious,” the statement said. “We’ve been working with the Boston Public Health Commission to take steps to minimize the risk of illness in any persons who may have been exposed.”

According to the press release, the professor’s final diagnoses should be determined by early next week.

“Although we believe a limited number of people may have been exposed, we encourage our entire campus community to take precautions,” the statement said.

The university, under the advisement of the BPHC, has urged all those who have been exposed, and who have not received immunization, to not engage in “public activities . . . leave home, and limit visitors to those people known to be immune to measles.”

The quarantine period cited in the statement is 21 days after he or she’s last exposure to the case, or until the person’s been cleared by a doctor.

The statement also urged people who believe they may have been exposed to get a measles, mumps and rubella vaccination if they have not already done so.

According to The Boston Globe, there has not been any indication thus far that the professor was at any point in contact with the woman with the confirmed case of measles who works in the Back Bay, or that he has traveled outside of the United States recently.

The case at UMass-Boston comes a week after the BPHC immunized more than 200 people who work in the same building, the Park Square Building near the Boston Common.

Many of the precautionary measures that have been taken are largely precautionary, as measles is an illness that transmits quickly and easily through the air.

Website | More Articles

This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.

Comments are closed.