The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says the presence of measles was recently detected in wastewater samples in Fairfield County.
Data from the agency’s National Wastewater Surveillance System show that a sewershed in Fairfield County has registered positive samples for “wild-type” measles in the weeks ending Feb. 7 and Jan. 31.
“A detection of wild-type measles virus in wastewater means that people who currently have or recently had measles may be present in the community,” the agency explains. “This could include people who live or work in the community, or those who traveled through the community.”
Jody Bishop-Pullan, director of the Stamford Department of Health and Human Services, said the samples were taken from a sewershed that serves Stamford and Darien. She said there had been no confirmed measles cases reported to her department as of Tuesday.
“The wastewater surveillance is a leading indicator that there could be a case” of measles, Bishop-Pullan said. “We're most prepared with how we would respond should there be a confirmed case reported to the department.”
Bishop-Pullan said it was possible that the positive sample could be the result of a person shedding the virus while passing through or visiting, rather than living within, the community. Still, she said, it’s important to remain vigilant.
“We know from COVID that there are no walls between our communities,” Bishop-Pullan said. “So even if the case doesn't belong to a certain community, there's still potential for many folks in the area to be exposed.”
Dr. Manisha Juthani, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health, said measles positivity in wastewater does not necessarily mean a case or cases of the disease will be found in the general public.
“We have had positivity like this before, and it has not resulted in a detectable case,” Juthani said. “But it does let us know that there was somebody who at least has been shedding the virus.”
“We are a very highly vaccinated state, which is a good thing, protecting all of us at large,” Juthani said. “If you are vaccinated, I can't promise 100%, but a 97%-effective vaccine is quite, quite good.”
Juthani stressed that measles is a disease that can often hit children the hardest.
“If you have been on the fence about getting your child vaccinated, I would strongly encourage you to talk to a trusted provider, because the measles vaccine is a way to protect your child from a very potentially harmful virus,” Juthani said.
Juthani said her department was working with local health departments to increase awareness about the possible presence of measles in the community. Symptoms can include high fever, cough, runny nose, conjunctivitis, and a rash.
“We just make sure that providers, who are very aware of this right now given the nationwide situation that we have with measles, to basically have a low index of suspicion when you see something that could be something else but could be measles, and to make sure we test accordingly,” Juthani said. “That's the way that we really get a handle on an individual case when it's present in the state, and then make sure that we prevent any further spread.”
The wastewater detection comes two months after Connecticut identified its first measles case since 2021 in a child who attends school in Trumbull. Measles continues to spread in the U.S. amid the largest outbreak of the disease the country has seen in decades.
