People who were working or traveling through Concourse C at the Denver International Airport on Tuesday, Feb. 22, may have been exposed to measles, according to officials at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. A person with measles arrived at DIA, Gate C39 at approximately 9 p.m. and remained in the area for several hours.

Measles (hard measles, red measles, 10-day measles, rubeola) is a very contagious viral disease which is easily spread through coughing, sneezing and secretions from the mouth. the measles virus may remain in the air for a couple of hours. Measles develops seven to 18 days after exposure. Early symptoms of measles are fever; runny nose; cough; and red, watery eyes. usually, one to four days after the early symptoms, a red rash appears on the face and spreads to the rest of the body. A person with measles is contagious beginning four days before the rash appears.

People are considered immune to measles if they were born in the United States before 1957, previously had measles or have had two measles shots.

People who think they have measles should contact a doctor or local health department immediately to be tested.

Measles is diagnosed by a history of exposure to the disease, symptoms and laboratory testing of the blood.

“It`s a pretty serious disease,” Prowers County Public Health Department Director Jackie Brown said.

The disease can cause kidney failure, blindness and other severe illnesses, including deafness.

Brown said those who were born after 1957 need to be vaccinated against the disease.

This is because people born before that year are considered immune, because they probably had the disease.

However, Brown said there are cases of people who have not had the disease and were born before 1957.

According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Colorado law requires that children going to school be vaccinated to prevent vaccine preventable diseases.

Required vaccines include Hepatitis B (HEP B), Tetanus/Diptheria/Pertussis (DtaP/Tdap/DT/Td), Polio (IPV), Measles/Mumps/Rubella (MMR) and Varicella or Chickenpox (VAR).

Two doses of MMR are required to protect against three diseases. Measles can cause ear infection, pneumonia, seizures, inflammation of the brain and death. Mumps can lead to deafness, meningitis, painful swelling of the testicles or ovaries and occasionally death. Rubella in pregnant women can cause miscarriage or serious birth defects to the unborn child.

The doses of vaccine are recommended for children starting at 12 to 15 months of age. A second dose of measles vaccine may be given at any age at least four weeks after the first dose.

Women should not get the vaccine, who are pregnant or plan to get pregnant within four weeks of getting the vaccine.The last case of measles in a Colorado resident was in 2006. Before that, the state had one case in 2004 and two cases in 2000. the person in this case is a resident of new Mexico.

People who were working or traveling through Concourse C at DIA on Tuesday after 9 p.m. should monitor themselves for any early symptoms of measles, especially fever, from March 1 to March 12. People who develop a fever should contact their health care provider or their local or state health department. People with symptoms should not go to child care, school, work or out in public, as they might have the early symptoms of measles and might be contagious. People with these symptoms should call their doctor to inform the office about their symptoms before showing up in the waiting room.