HEALTH

2 cases of measles confirmed on P.E.I.

The Canadian Press Published Saturday, June 29, 2013 7:01PM EDT

In this photo Thursday, April 25, 2013 Lucy Butler,15, getting ready to have her measles jab at All Saints School in Ingleby Barwick, Teesside, England, as a national vaccination catch-up campaign has been launched to curb a rise in measles cases in England. (AP Photo/Owen Humphreys, PA)

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CHARLOTTETOWN -- Public health officials on Prince Edward Island have confirmed two cases of measles in the province.

Officials from the Department of Health and Wellness say an adolescent youth has been diagnosed with the highly contagious, airborne disease and is currently recovering in hospital.

The youth is believed to have contracted the disease from a family member recently returned from Europe, where measles outbreaks are reported to be occurring.

Neither individual had been vaccinated against the disease.

Government officials emphasized in a news release Saturday that neither case is contagious.

But they strongly encourage anyone born after 1970 and who has not yet received two doses of measles vaccine to do so promptly.

The last laboratory-confirmed case of measles on the Island was in 1992.