Kansas health officers report measles exposure at Wichita airport, Hutchinson library

TOPEKA — Kansas county health officers issued warnings about four sites where people may have been exposed to measles, as the number of cases increases.

Confirmed measles cases have spread outside the initial eight southwest Kansas counties, with one case confirmed in Wichita and another in Hutchinson. As of last Wednesday, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment had reported 48 cases statewide. That number doesn’t yet include the cases in Sedgwick or Reno counties.

In Wichita, the Sedgwick County Health Department lists two possible exposure sites. Anyone who was at the Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport from 6:15 p.m. to 9 p.m. May 2 should monitor symptoms until May 23. And anyone at Carnicerias El Guero No. 1 grocery store, 524 W. 21st St N. in Wichita, from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. April 29 should monitor symptoms until May 20.

Adrienne Byrne, Sedgwick County health director, said the delay in letting the public know about measles exposure happens because symptoms can take time to show up. 

“Once someone is infected, it takes one to two weeks for symptoms to show,” she said. 

Initial symptoms of fever, cough, runny nose and watery eyes can be mistaken for a cold or flu, Byrne said. Then within two or three days, tiny white spots inside the mouth can occur with a bluish white center, then shortly after a rash forms.

It’s not until the rash appears that many people realize they have measles, she said.

“By that time, they’re almost at the end of their infectious period because people are infectious four days before the rash and four days after the rash,” Byrne said.

Once health officials become aware of a case, epidemiologists work with the infected person and their family to figure out where they might have been in the preceding days.

As of Monday morning, the Sedgwick County Health Department hadn’t received any phone calls from people concerned they may have been exposed at the airport, she said. They have contacted everyone on the airplane who was exposed and all have been vaccinated, Byrne said.

She encouraged anyone with measles symptoms who visited either of the two locations to call a hotline at 316-660-5558 to speak with a health professional.

Byrne said the county’s epidemiologist is trained to help people feel comfortable talking about the locations they’ve visited and sharing who may have been exposed.

“People feel guilty if they’ve exposed someone,” she said, adding that they often don’t want to make people miss work. If an unvaccinated person is exposed, they should quarantine for 21 days, she said.

The COVID-19 pandemic made people less willing to trust government officials and to share information, Byrne said.

“We are in a Republican state, and more and more it’s the right to individual freedom and the right of the individual versus the good of all,” she said. “So much distrust happened during COVID.”

Other exposure sites in Kansas include the Hutchinson Public Library, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. May 3; and B & P Auto Parts, 515 S. Main St. in Cimarron, all day May 2, May 5 and May 6.

State health officials encourage individuals to know their vaccination status. Byrne said the vaccine is 97% effective, so it’s rare that someone who has been fully vaccinated becomes ill.

If someone has been in one of the exposure sites and is unvaccinated, they should monitor for symptoms for 21 days after the exposure, she said. If they suspect they might have measles, they should not go to the doctor or the emergency room but should instead call the hospital or their doctor. That can help to limit the spread of infection, Byrne said.