Research from a local emergency physician identified a person who was considered a zero patient during last month's measles outbreak in Oakland County, a crucial step in controlling this highly contagious disease.

The outbreak caught the attention of Oakland County Health Department officials in March when they received a call from an Oak Park doctor who was concerned that the patient he had sent home with a prescription is not affected by measles.

The patient was an orthodox Jewish Israeli who had traveled to Detroit to raise money for charity work in Israel. Health officials jumped on the case.

Measles is known to spread in very close communities. They had just faced an epidemic among members of an orthodox Jewish family in Oakland County in October, which was quickly brought under control. But an epidemic in New York's Orthodox Jewish community was still ongoing.

Health officials from Oakland County have called on Dr. Steve McGraw, county medical director for emergency medical services. He worked for years with Hatzalah, a group of volunteer doctors who provide emergency services in the Orthodox neighborhoods of the Detroit area.

"We had a guy who did not speak English and the SIM card on his cell phone was not working, it was one of those disposable mobile phones from Walmart," McGraw said. "He raises funds for charity work in Israel, meeting families and going to various synagogues three times a day."

McGraw solicited the help of rabbis from synagogues throughout the region who mobilized to find the man. He was finally located in a local house for rabbis traveling.

"I sat down with him and I do not speak Hebrew, so a rabbi translated for me," said McGraw about Rabbi Daniel Arm, coordinator of the Tzedakah Strengthening Project, which helps charities Jews of the region.

Until then, McGraw and the health officials thought that the man had come to Detroit directly from Israel. The doctor was stunned to learn that the traveler was in the United States since November.

"I said, what do you mean in November? I knew that since he was in Detroit since November, he would not have contracted measles," McGraw recalled.

He said, "Well, I'm only in Detroit one day. I spend my time in Brooklyn. "And I thought, that makes sense, because I remembered there was a brewing outbreak in Brooklyn."

Through translated interviews, McGraw was able to trace the human movements in the Jewish community of Detroit.

According to the Jewish News, he reportedly visited Ahavas Olam Torah Center in Southfield, Ahavas Yisroel Congregation in Oak Park, Yagdil Torah Congregation in Southfield, Dovid ben Nuchim-Aish Kodesh in Oak Park, Jerusalem Pizza in Southfield, Kollel Institute of Greater Detroit at Oak Park, Mikveh Israel at Oak Park, One Stop Kosher Market at Southfield, Yeshiva Gedolah of Greater Detroit at Oak Park and Lincoln Liquor & Rx at Oak Park.

According to McGraw, the traveler's symptoms began when he was traveling between New York and Detroit, with fever and coughing. He saw the doctor who prescribed antibiotics to the traveler. The man ended up having a small rash near the hairline, so he contacted the doctor again. This is what prompted the doctor to contact the health service.

"It starts fairly regularly, you feel really sick for four or five days, the virus is divided in. You have this fever, this cough, a very bad sore throat and conjunctivitis, puffy eyes." said McGraw. "All that looks like the flu.

"The hallmark is around the fifth day or so, you get that rash flush with the hair, you can feel it, it goes down the face up to the shoulders and the neck. one had poured a can of red dotted paint on you, and it runs up to your waist. "

The problem is that the patient is contagious all the time, even before the onset of the rash, according to McGraw. And measles is much more contagious than the flu.

The health department tried to reach the traveler, but the man's cell phone was not working, which prompted the hunt for man.

Blood tests confirmed on March 14 that the man was suffering from measles, and tests showed that his strain of virus was consistent with the New York epidemic, according to health officials.

McGraw noted that the traveler was extremely cooperative after learning that he was suffering from measles and that he had stayed indoors so as not to expose others.

But to stop the spread, Oakland County's health officials have criticized the community over the need to vaccinate, said Leigh-Anne Stafford, health officer of the county's Health Division. ; Oakland.

The department sent nurses to people to administer vaccines and treat people with symptoms. They have also set up sites where people could be vaccinated without exposing others.

"There were some test sites, so if someone worried, we would have a place where people could go and get tested," Stafford said. "If they had questions, they could get in their car, and we had people to help them."

The department has administered 2,500 vaccines since March 14, compared to about two hundred in previous years, she added.

Since the beginning of the Oakland County outbreak, health officials have confirmed a case of New York strain in Wayne County. A different strain has been identified in a recently confirmed case of measles in Washtenaw County.

Last week, the authorities announced that the number of measles cases in southeastern Michigan has dropped from 41 to 39, after screening for two more cases.

The Michigan measles outbreak coincides with others reported throughout the country, including New York, California, Illinois, Texas and Washington, officials said.

The epidemic has been the largest in nearly three decades, health officials said.

McGraw, president of the Emergency Department at Ascension Providence Hospital in Southfield and Novi, expressed his gratitude for the support of the Greater Detroit Orthodox community, who strived to quickly master the situation. epidemic by ensuring that everyone is vaccinated.

On March 20, the Council of Orthodox Rabbis of the Great Straits issued a statement that it was considered a "religious obligation for every member of our community to be properly and fully vaccinated".

"Ignoring or undermining this universal immunization policy is putting the community at risk," the council wrote.

McGraw said most of Oakland County's cases had been identified in adults.

"In the case of New York, there was a large percentage of children who had not been vaccinated, and we did not see it at all in Detroit's case," he said. "We saw children getting sick, but they were in the same house with an adult who had it first.

"There is really no strength for an anti-vaccination movement in Detroit in the Orthodox community," he added. "Their vaccination rate is about the same as everybody else in Oakland County."

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