Health officials in Ingham County have declared that a supposed second case of measles in a one-year-old boy is a false positive, as reported by the Ingham County Health Department. The initial test, which signaled a positive result for measles, was later found to have been triggered by a recent measles vaccination. This turn of events has led to the reversal of what was initially considered a serious public health concern.
“When we test for measles, the first test is very sensitive and can pick up both real infections and traces of the vaccine virus,” Dr. Nike Shoyinka, Ingham County’s Medical Health Officer, stated in a release detailed by ClickOnDetroit. The mistaken case stemmed from exposure to a previously confirmed measles case involving a one-year-old girl, who contracted the virus following out-of-state travel. The additional testing by a regional public health reference lab supported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that a recent vaccination, not an actual measles infection, caused the initial positive result.
The clarified diagnosis comes amid a handful of genuine measles cases within Michigan. According to the Detroit Free Press, eight confirmed cases were reported in the state this year. These instances have varied from international travelers to local transmissions, including a cluster of cases in Montcalm County, which has been tied to an outbreak in Ontario, Canada. Meanwhile, the CDC reported 1,001 measles cases in 30 states last Thursday, emphasizing the significance of vaccination in preventing the spread of the disease…