Health officials are looking into a case of measles at the Alberta Children’s Hospital and are urging Albertans to make sure their immunizations are up-to-date.
AHS says a child who had been exposed to measles was in the hospital emergency room on multiple occasions and say the child had recently travelled to the Philippines where there has been a deadly outbreak of the virus
“This is our second case of measles, confirmed measles, that’s linked to exposure in the Philippines, where there is a measles outbreak right now. So again it’s a reminder to people, especially if you’re travelling, make sure all your vaccines are up-to-date, but specifically measles because it can be so easily picked up in travel,” said Dr. Judy MacDonald, AHS Zone Medical Officer of Health.
Measles is easily transmitted so officials are putting the word out to make sure people know how to recognize the symptoms and take action.
“Measles is not something to trifle with,” said Dr. MacDonald. “Measles is circulating globally. It can come right here to Calgary and we may not know about it and that’s why it’s important for people to make sure their immunizations are up-to-date.”
Officials say the unimmunized child was at the hospital on multiple occasions between January 14 and 18th and AHS has sent out about 400 letters to people who may have been exposed.
“If we can identify who might have been exposed to measles, we’ve got a short time window, actually 72 hours, to offer vaccine to anyone that’s not immune. If it’s beyond that time frame after the person has been exposed, if we know where those people were and can contact them, we will send them letters,” said Dr. MacDonald.
MacDonald say measles can stay in the air for up to two hours and a rash will likely appear three to seven days after exposure.
She says people should stay home and call Health Link if they suspect them may have come down with measles to keep it from spreading to others.
For more information on measles, click HERE.
