California

Measles Outbreak Strikes Channel Islands College Campus, Students Warned

Free shots were offered on campus, according to the alert, which warned that “you need to receive it by today, Jan. 23, 2015, to be protected.”

Students were warned to immediately get measles vaccines at California State University, Channel Islands, Friday after one student was diagnosed with the preventable virus, according to a campus alert sent by the school.

Measles has spread through California and beyond in an outbreak originally linked to people who visited Disney theme parks over a few days in December, though the outbreak has since spread to people who didn’t visit the Anaheim theme parks, health officials have said.

Students at the Ventura County school who took classes in the Bell Tower and Del Norte buildings or studied in Broome Library were at highest risk, according to the 3:17 p.m. alert. The infected student took classes “History of Rock” and “Money & Banking” classes Tuesday and Thursday and studied in the library for five hours Tuesday.

The student lives off campus, according to the alert.

Spread by air or through direct contact, measles can be prevented by a vaccine. The alert recommended that anyone at the CSU Channel Islands campus get a measles vaccine or booster shot if they’d previously had none or only one in the past.

Free shots were offered on campus, according to the alert, which warned that “you need to receive it by today, Jan. 23, 2015, to be protected.”

The university is working with the Ventura County Public Health Department to inform staff, students and faculty of the university, according to the alert.

If one develops measles symptoms like fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes or blotchy rash develop – though they usually take eight to 12 days to develop – health officials advise that they contact a local healthcare provider and stay at home.

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