Officials Await Word on Possible Measles Case

An employee of the Bose Corporation on Technology Drive in Westborough may have a case of the measles. Westborough Director of Public Health, Paul McNulty, said that testing results were expected from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health this afternoon. However, no word had reached the office as of 4:30 p.m. and a spokesperson indicated that results would likely be announced on Tuesday.

“It’s probably been ten or fifteen years since we’ve had a case of measles in this town,” McNulty told Westborough Patch.

McNulty explained that when a doctor suspects a case of measles, it is reported to the state, which is what happened in this case. The state then notifies the local board of health.

According to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID), symptoms of the disease include high fever, rash, runny nose, watery eyes, coughing, diarrhea and earache. Measles is highly contagious and can be contracted by breathing in the measles virus which is spread when an infected person coughs, sneezes or speaks. The disease is contagious from 4 days before until 4 days after the rash appears.

The NFID reports, “Measles can cause life-threatening pneumonia and brain inflammation, middle ear infection, severe diarrhea and sometimes death.”

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