Some students studying at Boston University this summer are still not allowed to attend classes because they have not been cleared of being immune to measles, two weeks after the disease was detected on campus, university officials said.
Most students have shown they are immune or received free immunization from Student Health Services, said BU spokesman Colin Riley. The university cannot release the exact number of students who have been barred from classes.
"In response to the university requirements, students have taken the appropriate actions," Riley said. "The vast majority were able to show documentation and meet the requirements, or take advantage of the clinic, and some are pending."
After BU offered numerous opportunities for students to get free vaccinations, there are a number of students who will have to stop taking classes because they did not comply with standards, said Student Health Services Director Dr. David McBride in an email.
The first reported case of the measles on campus came two weeks ago when a summer-session student, a 20-year-old woman from India, was diagnosed with the disease.
BU notified the Boston Public Health Commission on May 21, and BPHC representatives gave the university instructions and said this is the first incident of measles in 2007. There were three malaria cases in 2006 in Boston and none between 2000 and 2006, said BPHC communicable disease control division program manager Pat Tormey.
The diagnosed student, who lives off campus, will not attend classes until the disease is no longer contagious, Tormey said.
In response to the measles incident, SHS will strongly be enforcing immunization requirements for incoming students and returning students in the fall, McBride said.
"We will use a variety of measures, including blocking registration and not allowing students to check into residence halls," he said. "This is serious business, and the health of our campus is at stake. This is meant as a public health measure and not to inconvenience our students."
Measles, a skin disease common in past decades but is now rare, is characterized by a severe rash. It is generally contagious four days before and after the rash appears. To prevent the disease from spreading, infected people may only have limited interactions.
"That [measles-infected] person would have to be excluded from public activity for the time they were contagious," Tormey said.
Since the initial detection of measles, SHS has contacted all non-compliant students through five emails, McBride said. Those students were also contacted through information posted on campus, including in classrooms, and messages through professors, Residence Life staff and supervisors. A separate letter was sent out about the "vaccine status of all faculty and staff," McBride said.
Although all non-compliant students were contacted, some who were in accordance with Massachusetts law were unaware of the measles incident until recently. Compliant students were not contacted directly in some cases, but all students received information about the vaccination clinic.
"We sent messages primarily to students who were non-compliant," McBride said. "One email about the vaccine clinic … at [the Fitness and Recreation Center] went out to all students."
SHS offered free measles, mumps and rubella vaccinations, or MMR vaccinations, which have been available since 1971, at locations around campus, including FitRec.
Most states require all residents have an MMR immunization unless they have medical or religious reasons not to, McBride said.
"As you may know, law does not translate to access to medical care," he said. "There are a cadre of reasons why people don't get vaccinated."
Although measles vaccinations are often given to children at a young age in two doses, McBride said people sometimes forget to receive the second dose. It is also possible that they do not receive either dose because of special situations.
If a BU student had not received the second dose, McBride said the student was cleared after SHS gave a second dosage because it can be received at any time, regardless of when the first was administered.
"If a student had record of one dose, we gave them a second," he said. "If the student had no record of vaccine, we give one, and the second needs to be done 28 days or more after the first."
Staff reporters Lisa Davis and Matt Negrin contributed reporting for this article.
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