A child infected with the measles visited two Kaiser Permanente medical facilities in northwest Virginia, the state Department of Health said.
The Health Department, in an update to let residents know where they could have been exposed, said the child was at the Kaiser Permanente Caton Hill Medical Center in Woodbridge on April 15 from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., specifically the advanced urgent care, pharmacy, laboratory and radiology departments.
The child also visited the pediatrics department of Kaiser Permanente Fredericksburg Medical Center from noon-5 p.m. on April 16.
The child, who is 4 years old or younger and lives in the northwest region of the state but who officials are not naming to protect the family’s privacy, had traveled internationally before contracting the measles.
The case is Virginia’s first this year.
People who have never received a measles-only or measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine are considered at risk. The Health Department urged people at risk who were at the exposed health care facilities on those dates to contact their health care provider.
The Health Department did not specify the child’s vaccination status.
Two doses of the MMR vaccine have a 97% efficacy rate in preventing measles, while one dose is 93% effective, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
People should watch for measles symptoms to begin within 21 days of potential exposure, the Health Department said.
Symptoms start a week to two weeks after exposure with a fever over 101 degrees, a cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes. Three to five days after those symptoms begin, patients begin developing a rash that spreads to the rest of the body.
Measles patients are contagious from four days before the rash appears until four days after.
