Report: Health worker who spread measles had been vaccinated

The following is an excerpt from “‘Vague symptoms’ explains delay in confirming measles case, MUHC says” by Aaron Derfel

The employee at the McGill University Health Centre who contracted the measles  — and who might have inadvertently exposed dozens of patients to the highly contagious virus for several days at the end of March — had received the standard two shots years earlier, an MUHC infectious-diseases specialist said Monday.

The employee, whose name or position has not been disclosed, had returned recently from a vacation in the Caribbean, where it’s likely that he contracted the virus, Dr. Marie-Astrid Lefebvre told reporters.

Initially, the employee suffered from “vague symptoms,” which explained the delay in confirming his measles diagnosis. From March 23 to March 27, the employee worked while contagious in the adult intensive-care unit, cardiac surgery unit, infectious diseases clinic and cardiovascular, heart failure and heart transplant clinic at the Glen site in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.

“We believe that the individual in question acquired the infection while on a trip to the Caribbean roughly three weeks before the start of his symptoms,” Lefebvre said. “We do not believe it was an acquisition from Montreal itself, and we do not believe we have any secondary infections as well.”

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