Now 5 Chicago-area babies have measles

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Five babies at a suburban Chicago daycare center have been diagnosed with measles, The Chicago Tribune first reported Thursday.

Health officials are investigating the cluster of measles cases at KinderCare Learning Center in suburban Palatine. All the children are under 1 year old.

"At this time, the source of infection for the children is not known," health officials said in a statement.

In late January, the county department of health confirmed a case of measles in someone who had been to various locations in Palatine, though KinderCare was not listed among them.

"It is not clear if these cases are linked to the previously confirmed case in suburban Cook County or the outbreak associated with Disneyland," noted the statement about the KinderCare outbreak. The Disneyland outbreak has infected more than 100 people in 14 states.

Health officials have asked any unvaccinated children and the staff at KinderCare "to remain at home and away from unvaccinated individuals for the next 21 days."

Children generally don't receive the first dose of an MMR vaccine until they are at least 1 year old, which is why infants are at such high risk.

Measles is frighteningly easy to catch. It's "so contagious that if one person has it, 90% of the people close to that person who are not immune will also become infected," the CDC explains.

Measles causes a fever, a cough, and a telltale all-over-the-body rash. Pneumonia and ear infections are common complications; in about 1 in 1000 cases, measles can lead to encephalitis (brain swelling) and death.

(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Will Dunham)