Alberta Health issues measles advisory over contagious individual

Alberta Health says someone infected with measles landed at the Calgary International Airport on March 10, then took a seven-hour bus ride to Grande Prairie. (File)

The province’s health authority is alerting the public over a potential measles exposure that began at the Calgary International Airport and ended in Grande Prairie.

In a Wednesday news release, Alberta Health said someone with a confirmed case of measles was in close contact with the public at the facility on March 10.

Alberta Health says the infected individual didn’t stay in Calgary, instead getting on a coach line and travelling to Grande Prairie, a trip of more than seven hours that possibly put them into close contact with dozens of people.

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Officials shared the following information about potential exposure time periods and locations:

• Baggage Claim Carousel 4, between 4:45 p.m. and 8:50 p.m.;
• Cold Shot Bus Company – Calgary Bus Terminal (1313 44 Ave. N.E.), between 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.;
• Cold Shot Bus Company – Red Deer Bus Terminal (6607 67 St.), between 10:05 p.m. and 12:05 a.m. on March 11;
• Cold Shot Bus Company – Edmonton Bus Terminal (11550 154 St. N.W.), between 10:30 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. on March 11; and
• Cold Shot Bus Company – Grande Prairie Bus Terminal (9501 113 St.), between 4:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. on March 11.

The province said anyone on the bus with the ill passenger could have also been exposed.

Those who rode the Cold Shot Bus Company vehicle from Calgary via Red Deer to Edmonton, departing at 6:20 p.m. and arriving at 10:30 p.m., and the Edmonton to Grande Prairie route, departing at 11:50 p.m. and arriving at 4:30 a.m., on March 11 should take precautions.

“Anyone who attended this location at any of these times, who was born in or after 1970 and has fewer than two documented doses of measles-containing vaccine or has never had measles disease, may be at risk for developing measles and may be asked to take additional precautions if presenting to a health-care facility,” officials said in the news release.

“They should monitor for symptoms of measles and are strongly encouraged to review their immunization records.”

Measles is a highly contagious disease that spreads easily through the air.

If anyone develops symptoms of measles, including a high fever, cough, runny nose and/or eyes and a rash that appears three to seven days after the fever, they are urged to stay home and call Alberta Health’s measles hotline at 1-844-944-3434.