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Officials at a San Antonio-area charter school said Thursday evening they had confirmed a case of measles at their school, only to later say the case was actually rubella, not measles. State officials told TPR they have not confirmed a case of either type of illness at the school.
Legacy Traditional School - Cibolo said in a statement provided to TPR around 6:30 Thursday evening that the school was "taking all necessary precautions following the confirmation of a measles case in a first-grade classroom."
The statement was provided by the charter school's management company, Vertex Education. However, a letter that appears to have been sent to parents used the terms measles and rubella interchangeably. Rubella is sometimes called German measles, but it is not the same illness.
TPR contacted Sean Amir with the charter management company seeking clarification, and Amir told TPR the case was actually rubella.
Rubella doesn't typically make kids as sick as measles can, but it poses a threat to women in the first trimester of pregnancy. It can cause miscarriage or stillbirth. Children are typically vaccinated against rubella, measles, and mumps at the same time when they get the MMR vaccine.
“School officials are working closely with state and local public health authorities to monitor the situation and ensure the well-being of the school community. School will remain open on Friday, Feb. 28, and as an added precaution, a thorough sanitization of the campus will take place after school hours,” school officials said in the original statement provided to TPR. “Families who have been directly notified should continue to follow the guidance provided. We appreciate our community's patience, trust, and cooperation as we navigate this situation.”
State and local health officials have not confirmed the illness reported by the school. A spokesperson for the state health department told KSAT News Thursday no measles case had been confirmed in the area. Texas Department of State Health Services spokesperson Chris Van Deusen provided the same statement to TPR.
"There are no confirmed cases in that area. Just because someone is being tested for measles doesn’t mean they have measles," Van Deusen said in an email. "There are a lot of different illness that cause a rash, and we want people to be thinking about measles, and we want doctors who see a patient with a rash that could be measles to have them tested. But at this point, no confirmed cases."
Van Deusen later told TPR his department has not confirmed a case of either measles or rubella in the San Antonio area.
Texas health officials will update the statewide count of confirmed measles cases Friday.
County health officials notified the public of a potential measles exposure in the San Antonio area on Sunday, but it is unclear if that exposure is connected to the possible measles case at Legacy Traditional School – Cibolo.
The vaccination status of the person the school said has rubella is also unknown.
In order to reduce the risk of spreading measles, community vaccination rates need to be at 95% or higher. Dozens of San Antonio-area schools are below that threshold, including Legacy Traditional Schools. 94.5% of Kindergartners at Legacy had received the MMR vaccine last year, placing it just under the level required for herd immunity. Other San Antonio schools have much lower vaccination rates.
According to medical experts, the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine is 97% effective against measles once a person has received two doses. Texas requires school-aged children to be vaccinated against measles, but families are able to request exemptions for both medical and conscientious reasons.
As of Tuesday, 124 cases of measles had been confirmed in Texas by state medical experts, primarily in West Texas in and around Gaines County.
On Wednesday, state and local officials reported that a school-age child had died of the virus.
Measles is highly infectious among the unvaccinated, and causes fever, rash, and respiratory symptoms. It can also lead to more serious complications like pneumonia and swelling of the brain, which can sometimes be fatal. Young children and people who are immunocompromised are most at risk.
A person can become sick up to 21 days after exposure, and the virus at first appears much like another respiratory illness. Tiny white spots may appear inside the mouth after two or three days, followed by a rash on the face, head, and body that lasts for five to six days.
An infected person is contagious up to four days before the rash appears and four days after the rash appears, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Bonnie Petrie contributed to this report.
