RACINE - State health officials are investigating three probable new cases of measles, including one in Racine County.

Racine Unified School District officials learned late Monday that Racine Health Department officials were investigating a probable measles case at Johnson Elementary School, 2420 Kentucky St., where a fifth-grade student reportedly had symptoms of the disease.

A probable case means that the sick individual has symptoms of the disease, but additional laboratory testing is still being completed, a state Department of Health and Family Services spokeswoman said.

The state currently has four laboratory confirmed cases of measles, said Stephanie Marquis, a DHFS spokeswoman. In addition, state health officials have confirmed a case of rubella in Waukesha County.

In addition to the four laboratory-confirmed cases, there are probable cases in Milwaukee County, Racine County and Walworth County, Marquis said.

The probable cases in Racine and Walworth County involve school-aged children. The local health departments are performing case histories, as well as identifying other persons the sick individuals could have come into contact with, according to DHFS.

School district officials were trying to get the word out.

"At this point we're really waiting for direction from the city health department, but we are trying to notify our parents and our staff," said Stephanie Kratochvil-Hayden, Unified's communications director.

At this point, district officials plan to send letters home with students Tuesday and they plan to use the district's phone system to send messages, in both English and Spanish, to district parents.

The district did not plan to close the school.

"The health department has not given us any indication that that was necessary," Kratochvil-Hayden said. "If they do, then we will obviously follow their direction."

The health department notified the school district about the student. For privacy reasons the district could not identify the student. School officials also could not confirm whether the student had been immunized.

District officials reported that 97.2 percent of Unified students are immunized. There are only about 200 children in the district who are not. About 13 children at SC Johnson are either "under-immunized" or their parents signed waivers that exempts their children from being immunized, district officials said.

The last outbreak of measles reported in Racine Unified was in 1989-90, district officials said.