BARTLESVILLE, OKLA (KTUL) — A bit of a panic today after the Bartlesville Public School district reported a measles diagnosis, only for the Oklahoma State Department of Health to verify that it was a false alarm.
Bartlesville City Councilor Aaron Kirkpatrick tells NewsChannel 8 that the city was relieved to hear the good news that measles has not come to Bartlesville.
“Measles is definitely on the rise worldwide, definitely on the rise in the United States as of 2024 and then now into 2025. It continues to rise. Fifty-nine percent of cases come from out-of-the-country travel, bringing it back in from traveling outside of the country,” said Carlisa Phillips, APRN CNP.
Confusion after a measles case was reported at Wayside Elementary, with this note posted on the Bartlesville Public School District website.
It said in Part, “…a staff member who had been at Wayside Elementary School the previous day was confirmed to have the measles.
Today’s false alarm comes amid a growing outbreak of over 100 cases in West Texas.
“I probably have the same information you do. I got the release from the schools. I’m praying for the families that are affected. Measles is very contagious and not something any family wants to deal with,” said Bartlesville City Councilor Aaron Kirkpatrick, responding to the news of a possible measles case in the city.
Fortunately, right after leaving this interview with Kirkpatrick, we heard back from the Oklahoma State Department of Health, and they verified that the reported diagnosis was not actually a case of measles.
We reached out to Granger Meador with Bartlesville Public Schools, who responded with an email saying, “OSDH has contradicted a diagnosis given by an Oklahoma hospital to the staff member… OSDH told us we did the right thing in alerting based on the hospital’s diagnosis, but I am concerned that such false alarms increase skepticism in public health.”
Carlisa Phillips, a nurse practitioner in Tulsa is reminding people to stay up-to-date on their vaccines.
She says there are not a lot of options for treatment if you contract measles.
“It is a preventable disease. It’s highly contagious but very vaccine-preventable,” said Carlisa Phillips.
She says that symptoms people should look out for include a high fever, cough, conjunctivitis, where your eyes get red, and a rash.
She says you can take vitamin A to prevent some of the symptoms, but she says there really isn’t a treatment other than immunoglobulin, which she says is an extreme treatment.