The University of California, Davis, Children’s Hospital has reportedly warned at least 200 patients that they could have recently been exposed to measles after a young girl arrived in the emergency room with symptoms of the highly contagious virus.
Dr. Dean Blumberg, who serves as chief of pediatric infectious diseases at the hospital, told NBC News on Thursday that the 7-year-old girl who was brought to the emergency room two weeks ago exhibited “some symptoms of measles, but not the typical textbook characteristics of measles.”
“Measles when it starts, starts off very similar to a lot of common community associated respiratory viruses,” Blumberg said.
She said the virus can begin in some children with “fever, runny nose, runny eyes and cough. And before the characteristic rash develops, sometimes it can be very difficult to diagnose.”
Blumberg said the young girl came to the hospital’s emergency department on March 17 and was “suspected of having measles on March 19.” – READ MORE