Visitors of the Fort St John Hospital earlier this week may have been exposed to measles after an infected person sat in the emergency room overnight.
This time, the exposure occurred over a five-hour span in the overnight hours of Oct. 26 and 27. According to Northern Health, any visitors of the emergency ward from 8:08 p.m. to 1:10 a.m. who are not vaccinated against the measles, should monitor for symptoms.
Early signs of the virus include a fever, cough, and runny nose – these symptoms generally set in before red bumps appear on a person’s face and neck and spread downward. Indicators of measles can appear seven to 21 days after exposure.
Northern Health is currently the only health authority in B.C. with exposure locations. Including instances from earlier in the week at the Dawson Creek and District Hospital’s emergency department and a flight departing from North Peace Airport heading to Vancouver, then Kelowna, earlier this month.
The easiest way to stay safe from the highly contagious illness is to receive both doses of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, explained Northern Health. People who are older than one-year-old, but born after 1970, and not pregnant are eligible to receive immunization. The jab has an “almost 100 per cent” record in preventing the disease in people who have received two doses, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
