The Fort Wayne-Allen County Department of Health received preliminary laboratory testing on Thursday, May 26, 2016 of a positive measles case and further testing is pending. This has prompted a measles alert to be issued.
Health officials report the date of potential exposure of patrons and employees of the Maysville Road Kohl’s (located at 10310 Maysville Rd, Fort Wayne, IN 46835) and Walmart(10420 Maysville Rd Fort Wayne IN, 46835) was May 18, 2016.
Public health officials encourage those patrons and employees of the Maysville Road Kohl’s and Walmart who were present at those stores on May 18, 2016 between the hours of 5 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. to monitor themselves for any measles-related symptoms especially if they have not been vaccinated with the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine.
The opportunity for intervention has passed, so any preventative vaccine or medicine would not prevent measles from developing in unvaccinated individuals who were exposed. Therefore, health officials urge those who were at those respective stores on May 18, 2016 between 5 p.m. and 8:30p.m. to please monitor themselves for symptoms of measles until June 8, 2016.
Measles is a highly contagious virus and spreads through the air through coughing and sneezing. Individuals who have not received their measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine can get measles just by being in a room where a person with measles has been.
Symptoms of measles generally appear about 7-14 days after a person is infected, but can occur up to 21 days after exposure. According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), measles typically begins with high fever, cough, runny nose, and red, watery eyes. Two or three days after symptoms begin, tiny white spots may appear inside the mouth. Three to five days after symptoms begin, a rash breaks out. It usually begins as flat red spots that appear on the face at the hairline and spread downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs, and feet. When the rash appears, a person’s fever may spike to more than 104 degrees Fahrenheit. After a few days, the fever subsides and the rash fades.
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