Health Alert Issued in Mexico After British Tourist Diagnosed With Measles

As a result of a British tourist being hospitalized in Mexico with measles, the local government is working to monitor all of the people she came in contact with during her vacation.

According to Daily Mirror, the unidentified 50-year-old female traveler landed in Cancun and traveled to a resort in Playa del Carmen where she came down with a fever, cough and a red rash that caused her to seek medical assistance.

At the hospital, she was diagnosed with measles and local authorities were notified. As a result, a total of 369 people were confirmed to have come in contact with the woman and are now under heavy medical surveillance through June 22 to make sure they weren’t infected.

Mexican Health Secretary Alejandra Aguirre Crespo said the woman’s condition is improving, but the case is alarming, as England is dealing with a rise in cases of the infectious disease due to an anti-vaccination movement.

Local media reports said Mexico has been free of native cases of measles since 1996, but the Panamerican Organization of Health claimed that 12 countries in the region have reported confirmed cases in 2019: Argentina, the Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the United States, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

No deaths have been linked with the disease in the region this year.