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St. Mary’s health officials flag measles in wastewater sample; no confirmed local cases, vaccination clinics underway
Summary
St. Mary’s County Health Department officials reported one positive wastewater sample for measles at the Marley Taylor treatment facility followed by four negative tests, issued a public advisory and are offering measles vaccinations and clinics to the public; no confirmed clinical cases have been reported in the county.
St. Mary’s County health officials said June 3 that a national wastewater testing study detected measles virus markers in a single sample from the Marley Taylor water reclamation facility but that four subsequent samples from the same facility tested negative. Health officials said there are no confirmed clinical cases in the county.
Dr. Brewster, speaking for the St. Mary’s County Health Department and the Board of Health, said the county began sampling wastewater for measles in mid-May as part of a national panel of infectious-disease tests and that wastewater detection is an early-warning tool. "We did have 1 positive sample, in 1 of these wastewater samples taken from the Marley Taylor water reclamation facility. This, however, was followed by 4 negative samples on subsequent days from the same facility," Dr. Brewster said.
She and other health officials said the positive wastewater signal could reflect a single infected traveler, a transient shedding event, or other factors; it does not confirm ongoing local transmission. "Correct. There's no confirmed cases of measles in St. Mary's County," Dr. Brewster said in response to a commissioner’s question.
The department issued a press release and an advisory to local health-care providers and posted the wastewater data to a public dashboard. Officials also said multiple community measles vaccination clinics have been held this spring and will continue; Dr. Brewster said measles vaccine is being provided regardless of ability to pay and that appointments can be scheduled by calling (301) 475-4330. She urged residents who are not immune to talk with their health-care provider and to call ahead if they have symptoms so they do not expose others.
Health department staff described the county’s broader infectious-disease monitoring and preparedness activity. Officials said the wastewater testing program is designed to detect signals earlier than clinical case reports and to give providers and public-health teams time to prepare. The county also is continuing routine wastewater surveillance for other pathogens and has added measles to that panel because of multiple outbreaks nationally.
Health department staff also reported updates on other public-health topics, including continued monitoring of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) in poultry statewide (no local poultry outbreaks reported), education about alpha-gal (the tick-associated red-meat allergy), and the expansion of school-based behavioral-health services and a new federally qualified health center offering primary care and a sliding-fee scale in Lexington Park.
