BART rider with measles potentially exposed thousands

[yuiyoshida]

Public health officials issued a warning Thursday that thousands of Bay Area residents were potentially exposed to measles last week when a UC Berkeley student with the virus attended classes in Berkeley and rode on BART.

The student, a Contra Costa County resident whose name was not released, was confirmed to have the highly contagious respiratory disease on Wednesday, and was likely to have been infected while traveling abroad, said officials with Contra Costa Health Services. The student had not received a measles vaccination, officials said.

Health officials said that anyone riding on BART between Feb. 4 and Feb. 7 during the morning commute or late evening was potentially exposed to the virus. The virus, which can stay in the air for up to two hours, was probably present on trains that moved throughout the Bay Area, they said.

BART provides an average of 390,000 rides each weekday.

People who are vaccinated or have had measles are unlikely to catch measles if exposed to the virus, officials said. However, those who have not been vaccinated are at risk.

http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/BART-rider-with-measles-potentially-exposed-5233352.php

(15 cases of measles in the bay area)