Prime Highlights:
- Certain places, like Newark Liberty International Airport, have been specially identified by the New Jersey Department of Health as measles exposure sites.
- Travellers who visited the following places on these dates are presumed to be at risk and should seek out signs.
Key Facts:
- Measles exposures have taken place at a chain of facilities that include an airport, a hotel, coffee shop, and medical facility.
- The two-week incubation period generates measles symptoms of rash, fever, and cough type.
Key Background:
New Jersey Department of Health issued a health alert following a non-state traveler who caught measles at multiple locations throughout the state. Newark Liberty International Airport, a single overnight hotel guest, restaurants, and a medical center complex are some of the places that have been reported to have had confirmed exposure. All who passed through those institutions at those periods have been contacted by public health officials to watch for signs.
Measles is a highly contagious viral illness transmitted by respiratory droplets by sneezing or coughing by an infected measles patient. The incubation period of the virus is two hours after the patient has exited the room. Pupillary reflex, watery eyes, fever, cough, and typical rash starting on the face and progressing downward are presentations. These fatal complications like neonatal pneumonia and encephalitis in newborns, pregnant women, and immunocompromised hosts can be the outcome.
Public health officials also advise infected susceptible objects to take care and report to a health center immediately they begin experiencing signs of the disease. Yet, they ought to schedule an appointment first prior to reporting to a health center because the disease spread is evaded. Immunization also prevents the disease more than trying to stifle or treat the established outbreak but will not shield for as long a duration.
The New Jersey Department of Health is also collaborating with local health departments to prescreen presumptive cases and avoid secondary cases. High immunization levels, officials say, are the target, not just of measles control, but of public health prevention.
