St. Louis County, MO (KTRS) Health officials are warning about a possible measles exposure in St. Louis County.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and the St. Louis County Department of Public Health reports the exposures may have occurred on March 13 at The Magic House and Racanelli’s New York Pizzeria in Kirkwood, and on March 14 Homewood Suites in Chesterfield.
Measles is a highly contagious, acute viral illness that is transmitted by contact with an infected person through coughing and sneezing. Patients are considered to be contagious from four days before until four days after the rash appears. The measles virus can remain infectious in the air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves an area such as a waiting room. Measles is vaccine-preventable disease. You can check with your health care provider to make sure you and your family are up-to-date on vaccines.
The symptoms of measles generally include a rash that appears 7-21 days after exposure. Measles typically begins with:
o A high fever
o Cough
o Runny nose
o Red, watery eyes
Three to five days after symptoms begin, a rash starts to appear. The rash usually looks like flat red spots that break out first on the face and spread downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet.
Anyone who may have been exposed should contact their health care provider if they develop symptoms. Health officials say if you may have been exposed to measles and you have symptoms, you should NOT go to any health care facility without calling first.
Health care providers should isolate suspected measles case-patients and immediately report suspected cases to the local public health agency or to DHSS at 573/751-6113 or 800/392-0272 outside normal business hours.
