A UCLA employee who contracted measles ate twice at the campus food court, the outbreak continued

An employee of the University of California at Los Angeles, who has measles, has eaten twice in a campus food court while being contagious, officials said.

The worker, who was not identified, had lunch on July 2-3 in the Court of Sciences Student Center food court, known as The Bomb Shelter, according to the Department of Health. Los Angeles County Public.

Officials said in a statement that anyone who was at the Center between 9am and 11:30 am one or the other day would have been exposed to the highly infectious disease.

This is the twelfth case confirmed in Los Angeles County in 2019 and it is the largest measles outbreak in the United States since 1992 that continues to sweep the country.

The university urges anyone who thinks they have been exposed to make sure their vaccination record is up to date or to contact their doctor for any questions.

"Epidemiologists and top health experts working on campus work closely with the County Public Health Department to ensure that all those who may be affected receive appropriate notification and care," Vice Chancellor of UCLA, Michael Beck.

"After learning of the situation, UCLA identified and notified those employees who may have been in contact or exposed in other ways."

Health officials said that this case was not related to measles exposure on campus in April, which led more than 1,000 students and staff members to stay at home, reported the Los Angeles Times.

The news of the employee's disease comes as the United States struggles to fight the worst measles outbreak in years.

On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that 1,109 people had been diagnosed in 2019 in 28 states.

Of these cases, at least 55 were confirmed in California, 12 in Los Angeles County.

The health department says the majority of cases occurred in unvaccinated people.

If the epidemic lasts more than a year (that is, it will continue until October 2019), the US will lose its HIV status. elimination and will become a country where measles is "active".

Measles is a highly contagious infection caused by the measles virus.

When a person with measles coughs, sneezes or speaks, infected droplets are sprayed in the air. Other people can inhale them and are then infected.

Symptoms occur between 10 and 14 days after infection and include fever, cough, runny nose and total rash.

Once common, the disease is now rare because of the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella).

The CDC recommends that children receive the first dose between 12 and 15 months and the second dose between four and six years.

The vaccine is effective at about 97%. But those who are not vaccinated have a 90% chance of catching measles if they breathe the virus, the CDC says.

Before measles vaccine became available, more than 500,000 cases were diagnosed each year in the United States, resulting in about 500 deaths each year.

The World Health Organization reported that worldwide, the number of measles cases had increased by 300% in the first three months of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018.