Measles
Recently there have been several confirmed cases of measles in the United States in areas around California, Hawaii and Arizona. Measles is a viral disease that is uncommon the United States, however it is still a serious illness in parts of the world. Symptoms of infection include a dry cough, fever, runny nose, red conjunctiva (resembling other causes of pink eye), and a flat, red rash. The skin rash appears one to three days after other symptoms start and the illness lasts to ten days. It is highly contagious and spread through direct contact with respiratory droplets. It is communicable one to two days before the onset of symptoms (three to five days before the rash) until four days after the rash appears. Complications are severe: 1 in 20 develop pneumonia; 1 in 1,000 develop an inflammation of the brain, often with permanent brain damage; 1 to 3 in 1,000 patients die.
UNL Response
Because this is a serious illness, public health measures are instituted when it appears. This means that any student who has not complied with the UNL Health Requirement will be excluded from campus until they meet the immunization requirement or until 14 days after the last individual with a rash is diagnosed. The Health Requirement is met by having two MMR vaccinations or two measles vaccinations after 1967, proof of immunity by a blood test or by virtue of being born before 1957 (presumptive immunity).
