Mother Reveals Vaccinated Son, 3, Caught in Chicago Measles Outbreak Linked to Overrun Migrant Shelter: ‘I Thought He Was Dying in My Arms’
The mother of a toddler with measles has revealed how she thought he was ‘going to die in my arms’ after the little one fell ill with the highly contagious disease.
Jessica Colleti, of Chicago, said her son Vincent, three, developed a fiery, red rash on his face in early March that quickly spread “all over his body.”
Within days of feeling ill, he had a “super empty” and vacant look in his eyes and almost completely stopped moving and speaking.
“I really thought he was going to die in my arms,” ββshe said. ‘I kept telling him that ‘Mommy is getting help, and you’re going to be fine.’
‘I didn’t think this would happen to us. I never thought he would come back positive for measles.β
Vincent is one of about 130 Americans stricken with measles this year, amid warnings that falling vaccination rates and rising immigration are making American children more vulnerable to the disease than ever before.
The family, who say their 10-month-old child also fell ill, do not know where Vincent contracted the virus, but they live in the same city as the Pilsen migrant center that is believed to be the source of the Chicago outbreak.
Vincent Coletti, 3, pictured above, was hospitalized with measles. His mother said she feared he would not survive
The photos above show Vincent’s rash as it spread down his chest to his arms. They are the little red spots on his body
Migrants pictured in a makeshift shelter in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, where many are being transferred. There has been an outbreak of measles and tuberculosis linked to the shelter
Mrs Coletti said she rushed her son to hospital on Monday after a neighbor who was a nurse checked on him, where doctors quickly confirmed the infection.
He spent a night in the ER and was given fluids before being discharged with doctor’s orders – with Ms Coletti told to bring him back if he worsened.
At home, he battled a fever of 40 degrees Celsius for five days before eventually recovering from the infection.
Mrs Coletti pictured with her son Vincent before diagnosis. It is not clear where he became infected
Vincent had received his first dose of the measles vaccine, his mother said, but not the second because he was too young. He is said to be up to date on all other vaccines.
The CDC says babies should get their first dose of the measles vaccine between the ages of 12 and 15 months, and their second dose between the ages of four and six years.
Research shows that the first dose is 93 percent effective against the virus, while the second dose is 97 percent effective.
Vaccinated people can still get sick, doctors say, but they have a much milder infection because they already have immunity.
The mother worried about her young daughter Vanna, who was too young to receive vaccinations against the disease at the time Vincent was diagnosed.
βI know that for our particular case, for my son, I’ve never seen him this sick,β she said WGN Chicago.
‘I had never been so worried, scared or tired. From fighting the fever for five days and just trying to figure out how to get him betterβ¦I felt like I couldn’t get him better.β
In Chicago, many migrants are crammed into buildings in the Pilsen neighborhood for shelter β which have been completely overwhelmed after more than 25,000 migrants arrived in the city in the past 16 months, including 2,400 who had been housed in shelters.
A total of 31 cases of measles have already been diagnosed at the shelter, while officials also say some residents have tested positive for tuberculosis.
The increase in migrants comes as Chicago continues to brand itself as a “sanctuary city,” or a location where people can seek help from city services without disclosing their immigration status. Officials also do not ask residents whether they have a legal right to be in the US.
Measles cases have surged in the US in recent months, linked to declining vaccination rates against the virus
Chicago is at the epicenter of the measles outbreak in the US, with 58 cases recorded so far
Ms Coletti said workers from the city’s health department had tried to trace her son’s infection to the migrant center in Pilsen, but had been unsuccessful.
βWe were not among the twelve cases (at the time in the migrant center),β she said WGNTV“and they still can’t connect us to the twelve cases.”
She added: ‘I was shocked, honestly, I didn’t think this would happen to us.’
Experts say it is possible for people to contract the disease in many locations because it is one of the most contagious known to man.
Dr. Claudia Hoyen, a pediatrician at UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, said CNN: ‘Measles is so terribly contagious. You could be standing in line at a grocery store with someone who has had measles and contracted the disease and you would never know it because the measles virus lingers in the air for so long.”
Measles infections are more dangerous for children under five years old because they are less likely to be vaccinated and have an immature immune system.
Complications the disease can cause include pneumonia and encephalitis β or swelling of the brain β with the CDC saying every three in a thousand infected children die from the disease.
In the current outbreak in the US, almost half of the patients β 46 percent, or 57 people β were under the age of five.
This group has also recorded the highest number of hospital admissions, with 65 percent or 37 people hospitalized.
By comparison, among those aged 20 or older, 40 cases have been detected β or 32 percent of the total β and 53 percent, or 21 people, have been hospitalized.
She said: ‘He seems much better. He’s sitting next to me. He has chocolate on his face, but he’s much better.
“I never thought we would come back positive for measles, and now I’m just scared and worried about my 10-month-old son.”
Vanna appeared sickly in mid-March, shortly after Vincent’s diagnosis, and had tested positive for Covid and adenovirus.
Both Mrs. Coletti and her husband were tested and found to have antibodies against measles.
But the entire family had to quarantine for 21 days to minimize the risk of spreading the disease to others.
He also suffered from a fever for five days, his mother said, before recovering. She is now worried about her 10-month-old daughter Vanna
MS Coletti also described her son having a “super blank” look on his face because of the infection
He is pictured above after recovering and looking happier, with Ms Coletti saying he had some chocolate on his face
Dozens of migrant families arrive from Texas at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York in September 2023
They were also required to provide a list of where they had been and who they had been in contact with for tracing purposes to prevent other cases.
As millions of migrants rush to America under Joe Biden’s administration, experts have warned that crowded shelters and low vaccination rates in other countries could leave the US vulnerable to outbreaks.
They say asylum seekers could bring contagious diseases across the southern border and that the “open border” policy is leading to drug-resistant diseases.
And city leaders have said migrants are coming to their areas in “disturbing” and “very unhealthy” conditions.
Migrants themselves have said that diseases are widespread in the shelters due to overcrowding and unsanitary conditions.
The latest outbreak in Chicago adds to a growing list across the country, which has seen clusters of tuberculosis, chickenpox and an unidentified disease that killed a 5-year-old boy in December.