A man traveling the country to fund-raise for charity in Orthodox Jewish communities is responsible for 38 cases of measles in Michigan after driving from Brooklyn to Detroit for a business trip full of community meetings.
The Israeli traveler, dubbed 'Michigan's Patient Zero' by the Washington Post, arrived in New York in November, when the measles outbreak was starting to take hold in Brooklyn, and he stayed until March.
It took Michigan authorities a week to realize he might be the source - by which time, the Post reported, he had interacted with 'hundreds of people', visiting synagogue three times a day, kosher markets, and staying in people's homes.
The man, who had gone to a doctor with a fever, cough and rash when he first arrived in Detroit but was given the all-clear, was 'devastated' when he realized he was the source of a fresh outbreak, Michigan health authorities said.
On the night that he set off for his overnight drive from New York to Michigan, the man, who has not been identified, had a fever and a heavy cough - two classic symptoms of measles - so he went straight to a doctor when he arrived, the Post reported.
His concerns were dismissed. The doctor gave him antibiotics for bronchitis.











