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All Hands on Deck - Lessons Learned from a Single Center’s Response to a Measles Outbreak

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2025

David Zhang
Affiliation:
University of Chicago Medical Center
Rachel Marrs
Affiliation:
University of Chicago Medicine
Vera Chu
Affiliation:
University of Chicago Medicine
Camille Graham
Affiliation:
UChicago Medicine
Molly Steele
Affiliation:
UChicago Medicine
Nick Ludwig
Affiliation:
UChicago Medicine
Emily Landon
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
Allison Bartlett
Affiliation:
University of Chicago Comer Childrens Hospital

Abstract

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Background: A measles outbreak associated with a migrant shelter occurred in Chicago in early 2024. Given the high transmissibility of measles in combination with the congregate nature of the shelter, health care facilities were tasked with hospitalizing patients with confirmed measles throughout the duration of their contagious period. Comer Children’s Hospital at the University of Chicago was able to hospitalize many of these patients, but numerous challenges were encountered in the initial response. Method: Communications were sent out to all providers to educate and increase awareness of measles presentations. Our infection prevention team helped coordinate timely collection of appropriate measles testing with the clinical team and helped facilitate timely processing with our microbiology lab for the test to be run by our state reference lab. Constant communication between the area hospitals and the city were instrumental in weathering the challenges our center faced in responding to the local outbreak. Result: Collaboration with the public health department allowed for optimizing turnaround times for diagnostic results, forecasting future patient volume, increasing advanced notice for patient arrival to the ED from the local shelter. Our hospital was faced with an inability to safely accommodate the influx of patients with airborne infection isolation rooms (AIIRs), and discussions with our facilities group led to the construction of multiple makeshift anterooms both in the ED and on the pediatric floors with the necessary amount of air exchanges to safely isolate these patients. A total of 18 patients were tested for measles at Comer Children’s Hospital in March 2024, including those from the community who did not reside in a shelter. Ten patients tested positive for measles, all of whom lived in the nearby shelter. Ages ranged from 2 months old to 9 years old. Patients returned back to the shelter after their infectious window was over. One patient suffered a complication of bacterial empyema requiring readmission. No exposures to patients or staff members occurred. Conclusion: Strong, efficient communication amongst hospital leaders allowed us to safely accommodate all the patients who presented with suspicion of measles. Working closely with the local public health department ensured optimal turnaround times of diagnostic results and increased our hospital’s level of preparedness.

Information

Type
Outbreaks
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America