Du Quoin and Pinckneyville Emergency Rooms begin watching out for measles

Emergency room personnel at Marshall Browning Hospital in Du Quoin and at the Pinckneyville Community Hospital are now paying attention to the measles outbreak, which so far has been seen only in upstate Illinois.

Two more children in suburban Cook County have come down with measles, bringing the Illinois tally of confirmed cases to 13.

The disease is highly contagious. Ninety percent of people who aren't immunized are infected if exposed to the virus.

In Kane County, the health department is offering measles vaccines to not vaccinated students and employees at Elgin Community College who may have had contact with one of the reported cases.