Measles exposure alert issued for Calgary airport as Alberta cases continue to climb
Breaking news from Alberta Health Services Thursday night, as a measles exposure alert has been issued for the Calgary airport.
Alberta Health Services issued a measles exposure alert for the Calgary airport on Thursday night.
If you were at the domestic terminal on Wednesday morning, there's a chance you were exposed, even if you didn't come into contact with the infected person.
Alberta Health Services says the measles virus can linger in the air for hours.
Breaking news from Alberta Health Services Thursday night, as a measles exposure alert has been issued for the Calgary airport.
Breaking news from Alberta Health Services Thursday night, as a measles exposure alert has been issued for the Calgary airport.
Someone with a confirmed case of measles was on a flight from Kamloops and got to domestic arrivals gate A17 just after 8 a.m.
They then departed at gate C55 on WestJet flight 630 to Prince Edward Island.
Infectious disease experts say measles is the most contagious virus they deal with.
Not only does it hang in the air for hours, but it is also really good at getting around the body's defences.
For some viruses, including COVID and flu, you have to inhale dozens of virus particles, but with measles, a single virus particle is all it takes.
Breaking news from Alberta Health Services Thursday night, as a measles exposure alert has been issued for the Calgary airport.
Breaking news from Alberta Health Services Thursday night, as a measles exposure alert has been issued for the Calgary airport.
This exposure alert comes as 27 more cases have been confirmed in Alberta.
That pushes the total since the outbreak began to just over 1,100.
Fourteen cases were reported in the south health zone, which still has the highest numbers by far in the province at 719.
The province says the best protection against measles is to ensure you are up to date with your immunizations.
Alberta Health Services provides free measles vaccines through public health centres.
Alberta Health Services has said of previous exposures, 'Anyone who attended these locations at these times who was born in or after 1970 and has less than two documented doses of measles-containing vaccine is at risk for developing measles.'
The provincial health authority has suggested anyone who may have been exposed 'review their immunization records and monitor themselves for symptoms of measles.'
Symptoms include, according to AHS:
Fever of 38.3 C or higher;
Cough, runny nose and red eyes; and
A red, blotchy rash that appears three to seven days after fever starts, beginning behind the ears and on the face and spreading down the body and then to the arms and legs.
Those with symptoms are advised by AHS to call Health Link (811) before attending clinics, pharmacies, etc.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Globe and Mail
2 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Why cuts to a U.S. inspection agency matter for Canadian food
For months, the 'buy Canadian' movement has inspired Canadians to shift their shopping habits away from American goods. While this has mostly been a patriotic move, some experts say recent cuts at the Food and Drug Administration, the agency responsible for inspecting 80 per cent of American food, might give Canadians another reason to think twice about buying American products at the grocery store. Kate Helmore is The Globe's agriculture and food policy reporter. She's on the show to talk about why the cuts at the FDA have some experts concerned, how intertwined the U.S. and Canadian food systems are, and why it's so challenging to disentangle them. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Health-care workers who treat refugees plan message to Trump administration
Adeb Arianson fled his home in Kabul just days before the capital of Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in 2021, as Western nations were evacuating their citizens and panic seized the city. He crossed the border to Tajikistan, where he had to spend a few weeks in a hospital recovering from physical and mental shock. "The panic attacks, the thoughts that were coming on and all the pressure of what's going to happen? What am I going to do?" Arianson recalled in a recent interview. "It was constant panic attacks. It was fear, it was just shock." Arianson, now 23, eventually arrived in Canada as a government-assisted refugee in 2022. He will be a guest speaker at an international conference in Halifax this weekend, where hundreds of health-care workers are gathering to discuss refugee and migrant health. Last year the conference had more than 1,000 attendees, and about 75 per cent of them were from the United States. This year attendance has dropped to about 500. Many attendees didn't attend because they were afraid of having trouble re-entering the United States—particularly if they were not born there—in the wake of the Trump administration's immigration policies. As well, many agencies had their federal funding cut, said conference organizer Dr. Annalee Coakley. She said the conference attendees are planning to send a message about protection of vulnerable migrants by drafting a statement they are calling the "Halifax Declaration," which they will submit to a major medical journal. "Patients are very, very fearful if they come from a migrant background," said Coakley, a family doctor who works in Inverness, N.S. She is also the co-director of a research program on refugee health in Calgary. "Together we have a shared voice, and we share values and so we're hoping to put together a statement in support of refugee and migrant rights, and their right to health," she said. In January 2025, the Trump administration issued an executive order saying it would suspend the United States Refugee Admission Program for an indefinite period of time. President Donald Trump called on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to carry out mass deportations, and ended programs that allowed some migrants to live and work in the United States. Refugees go through a different process, which usually involves being referred for resettlement by the United Nations. In the days following the suspension of the refugee admission program, thousands of refugees who were cleared to travel to the U.S. had their plans halted, including Afghan refugees who helped American armed forces when they were based in that country. Arianson has been following the news from his home in Halifax, and felt it was important to speak out at the conference. "As a refugee myself, as someone who went through this journey, I have seen the gaps and the struggles that refugees go through," he said. "I saw the opportunity and I thought I have the chance to raise my voice." Arianson was 18 years old when he left Afghanistan, and fled alone because his immediate family was killed when he was a toddler after the family car struck an explosive device. As a queer person and proud member of Halifax's LGBTQ community, Arianson knew living in Afghanistan under the Taliban would be dangerous for him. "Refugees are people that are just looking for a spot, a place to just be able to be themselves and be alive," he said, adding that he thinks it is "inhumane" for the United States to close its doors to refugees. Dr. Katherine McKenzie is the director of the Yale Center for Asylum Medicine, and came to the Halifax conference from New Haven, Conn. "I am very worried and concerned, and really sad as well," said McKenzie, who cares for many resettled refugee families. "I am always concerned that the families will be split up, that maybe a mom or dad will be deported," she said. "What will happen with the children in that case?" McKenzie said she is seeing families come to her clinic filled with stress and anxiety. "Obviously I'm a doctor, I want people who I see as patients to be healthy—mentally healthy and physically healthy. And this scenario .... is absolutely interfering and having an effect on mental and physical health," she said. Coakley said in her first conference meeting, one attendee shared a story of a family who delayed bringing their child to an emergency department out of fear of being deported. "When they finally did present to the emergency department they had a ruptured appendix, and that's potentially life-threatening," she said. "That's a very precarious place to be, and it's unconscionable in a country with plenty," she said.
CTV News
7 hours ago
- CTV News
Measles exposure alert issued for Calgary airport as Alberta cases continue to climb
Breaking news from Alberta Health Services Thursday night, as a measles exposure alert has been issued for the Calgary airport. Alberta Health Services issued a measles exposure alert for the Calgary airport on Thursday night. If you were at the domestic terminal on Wednesday morning, there's a chance you were exposed, even if you didn't come into contact with the infected person. Alberta Health Services says the measles virus can linger in the air for hours. Breaking news from Alberta Health Services Thursday night, as a measles exposure alert has been issued for the Calgary airport. Breaking news from Alberta Health Services Thursday night, as a measles exposure alert has been issued for the Calgary airport. Someone with a confirmed case of measles was on a flight from Kamloops and got to domestic arrivals gate A17 just after 8 a.m. They then departed at gate C55 on WestJet flight 630 to Prince Edward Island. Infectious disease experts say measles is the most contagious virus they deal with. Not only does it hang in the air for hours, but it is also really good at getting around the body's defences. For some viruses, including COVID and flu, you have to inhale dozens of virus particles, but with measles, a single virus particle is all it takes. Breaking news from Alberta Health Services Thursday night, as a measles exposure alert has been issued for the Calgary airport. Breaking news from Alberta Health Services Thursday night, as a measles exposure alert has been issued for the Calgary airport. This exposure alert comes as 27 more cases have been confirmed in Alberta. That pushes the total since the outbreak began to just over 1,100. Fourteen cases were reported in the south health zone, which still has the highest numbers by far in the province at 719. The province says the best protection against measles is to ensure you are up to date with your immunizations. Alberta Health Services provides free measles vaccines through public health centres. Alberta Health Services has said of previous exposures, 'Anyone who attended these locations at these times who was born in or after 1970 and has less than two documented doses of measles-containing vaccine is at risk for developing measles.' The provincial health authority has suggested anyone who may have been exposed 'review their immunization records and monitor themselves for symptoms of measles.' Symptoms include, according to AHS: Fever of 38.3 C or higher; Cough, runny nose and red eyes; and A red, blotchy rash that appears three to seven days after fever starts, beginning behind the ears and on the face and spreading down the body and then to the arms and legs. Those with symptoms are advised by AHS to call Health Link (811) before attending clinics, pharmacies, etc.
