Another travel-related measles case confirmed in B.C.’s Lower Mainland

A new case of measles has popped up in Metro Vancouver as the disease spreads around North America and the world.

Health officials have confirmed another case of measles in B.C.’s Lower Mainland, unrelated to the previous infections reported last month.

But like those cases, the latest measles patient is believed to have acquired the disease while travelling abroad, in Southeast Asia.

The individual lives in the Fraser Health region, which spans from Burnaby to Boston Bar, and visited the Royal Columbian Hospital emergency department earlier this week.

• Related: Measles cases rising in Canada, country’s top doctor says

Fraser Health said members of the public who were in the department from 2:30 p.m. Monday to 2:30 a.m. Tuesday may have been exposed to the highly infectious disease, which is airborne.

“Infection Prevention and Control clinicians are following up directly with individuals who are known to have been exposed to the virus,” the health authority said, in a statement.

“Individuals exposed to the measles virus should monitor for symptoms that may develop up to three weeks after being exposed.”

Those symptoms include fever, dry cough, runny nose and red eyes, followed days later by a rash that begins at the hairline and spreads rapidly down the body.

Anyone who develops measles symptoms is asked to inform

their health-care provider before going into a clinic, so precautions can be taken to prevent further spread.

Fraser Health noted that “most people in Canada” will be immune to measles due to prior immunization or infection.

B.C.’s other two recent measles cases were both linked to a group that travelled to Southeast Asia, on an Air Canada flight that arrived at the Vancouver International Airport on Feb. 11.

Thursday’s announcement came hours after Dr. Teresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, released a statement sounding the alarm about a “sharp” and “very concerning” increase in measles cases in the country.