International travel is now linked to all but one of the 13 cases of measles that have been confirmed in Vancouver.
Vancouver Coastal Health spokeswoman Tiffany Akins said on Sunday that the two most recent cases had been acquired while travelling abroad.
“One person lives in the (Vancouver) region and the other was travelling through Richmond and Vancouver International Airport en route to Edmonton, then the Northwest Territories,” she said.
The measles outbreak began in early February when an 11-year-old unvaccinated Vancouver boy returned home from a vacation to Vietnam with the disease. He then passed that strain acquired internationally on to several classmates and two of his siblings.
There is only one case that is considered to have been contracted locally, and not related to the 11-year-old boy.
Chris Devauld, a spokesman with Vancouver International Airport, said one of the two new measles cases reported in Vancouver was a traveller arriving from the Philippines, where an outbreak had killed at least 136 people and infected more than 8,000 people in recent weeks.
Devauld said that the passenger arrived in Vancouver on Feb. 11 on Philippine Airlines flight PR 116 from Manila, while the other was a passenger who departed Vancouver on Feb. 12 on Air Canada flight AC236 to Edmonton.
Akins warned the most recent cases had visited La Quinta Inn in Richmond on Feb. 11 and 12, the Little Ongpin Restaurant in Richmond on Feb. 16 and Toys R Us at the Lansdowne Centre in Richmond on Feb. 17 and 19.
Akins said that anyone who visited those places on those dates should monitor themselves for a 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.
Meanwhile, TransLink also issued a notice about possible measles exposure on board the Canada Line on Feb. 15. Riders who were on the Canada Line headed northbound or southbound between 9 to 11:30 a.m. should monitor themselves for symptoms.
Free vaccine is available at some local community health centres, the City Centre Urgent Primary Care Centre, and family doctors and walk-in clinics. Pharmacists can immunize adults and children over five years old.
Be the first to comment