Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) has confirmed two new cases of measles and is advising the public about locations the two sick patients visited.
Both people acquired their measles infections while travelling abroad, the health authority said Sunday. They landed at YVR about two weeks ago. One person caught a connecting flight, while another went to several locations in Richmond including Little Ongpin Restaurant and the Toys R Us at Lansdowne Centre.
Here is the complete list of locations:
“It can be challenging to determine all locations and times people went to while infectious,” VCH said in a news release. “The information is often incomplete, approximate and too late for others to take preventive action.”
This brings VCH's total number of confirmed measles cases to 13.
If you visited any of these places at the dates and times listed, health authorities are asking you to watch for symptoms of measles until 21 days after exposure.
Symptoms of measles include fever, cough, runny nose, and red eyes, followed a few days later by a rash that starts on the face and spreads to the chest.
People who haven’t had two doses of measles vaccine are at risk of contracting the virus. One dose of vaccine is about 95 per cent effecting at preventing measles, and a getting a second vaccination boosts that to 99 per cent.
Measles vaccines are free.
