Health officials: N.Y. Amtrak passenger had measles

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — A college student who rode an Amtrak train through New York last Sunday has the measles, prompting health officials to warn anyone who came in contact with the patient to watch for signs of the illness.

The Bard College student took the No. 283 Empire line train from Penn Station at 1:20 p.m. Jan. 25. The train made stops in Yonkers and Croton-Harmon before continuing to Poughkeepsie, Rhinecliff and the Albany area.

Bard, a liberal arts college in Dutchess County, has held an immunization clinic for students.

Anyone who might have come into contact with the student and is not fully vaccinated or unsure of their vaccination status is urged to see a doctor, health officials said.

The disease is highly contagious and can take several days after exposure to develop. It causes fever, runny nose, cough and a rash all over the body.

Complications are common. About one in 10 children also get an ear infection, and up to one in 20 get pneumonia. For every 1,000 children who get measles, one or two will die, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The warning comes amid a resurgence of measles nationwide believed to have been spurred by parents who refuse to vaccinate their children.

An outbreak that started at Disneyland in California resulted in 84 cases in 14 states and Mexico.

So far this year, there have been three confirmed measles cases in New York, including the one in Dutchess. The other two cases were in New York City.

The disease was common until a vaccine became available in the late 1960s. Since then it had been all but eradicated until a since-discredited study linked the vaccine and autism. No such link has ever been established.

There were 644 measles cases nationwide last year, up from 187 in 2013 and 55 in 2012, according to the CDC.