Due to a high volume of cases, Alberta Health Services has issued a ‘standing measles exposure advisory’ for the South Zone, which includes Lethbridge.
The standing advisory replaces individual notices that were being sent out for potential exposures at specific locations, like local businesses and health care facilities.
AHS says the significant caseload includes individuals with no known exposure source. This leads to underreporting of cases to the agency.
Officials say the previously sent out advisories “no longer accurately capture the scope of potential risk at this time in the zone”. Everyone living in or traveling to the South Health Zone is advised to be aware of the risk of exposure to measles, watch for symptoms, and make sure their immunizations are up to date.
AHS says anyone in the zone who was born in or after 1970 and has less than two documented doses of the measles vaccine is at-risk.
Symptoms include a fever, a cough, a runny nose and/or red eyes and a rash that shows up three to seven days after the fever starts.
More details about measles are available online, and concerns can be addressed by calling the provincial measles hotline at 1-844-944-3434.
