ATLANTA — A measles case has been confirmed in the Metro Atlanta area.
Nancy Nydam, the public information officer for the Georgia Department of Public Health, confirmed the case.
The person infected with measles is described as a young adult who traveled overseas and was not vaccinated.
The case is the seventh in Georgia this year.
Health officials said the person was not infectious as they passed back through Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta on their way back home.
According to health officials, someone exposed to the virus usually shows symptoms 7–14 days later.
People with measles can spread the disease from four days before the rash starts until about four days after that. They're most contagious while they have a fever, runny nose, and cough.
“Anyone planning international travel should be fully vaccinated at least two weeks before leaving,” said Cherie Drenzek, chief science officer and state epidemiologist at the Georgia Department of Public Health. “Measles is so contagious that if one person has it, 90 percent of the people close to that person who have not been vaccinated or are not immune will also become infected.”
Officials stress that the measles vaccine is safe and effective.
Europe and North America, in particular, are currently dealing with measles outbreaks that are their worst in decades.
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