The Georgia Department of Public Health announced on Thursday that it has confirmed the state’s first measles cases in nearly four years.
The department says a person who is unvaccinated was exposed to measles while traveling out of the country. The department did not release where the person lives in metro Atlanta.
“DPH is working to identify anyone who may have had contact with the individual while they were infectious,” officials stated.
The last reported case of measles was in 2020. DPH says that anyone experiencing measles symptoms should contact their doctor immediately, but do not go to the hospital, clinic or doctor’s office without calling first.
“Health care providers who suspect measles in a patient should notify public health immediately,” the department stated.
Symptoms include: high fever, cough, runny nose, red, and watery eyes, tiny white spots may appear inside the mouth after two or three days and red rash that covers the body follows.
Measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, thanks in large part to vaccines.
But international travelers can bring it into the country and then it can spread among the unvaccinated.
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