So many measles cases in southern Alberta, health authority issues standing advisory [Video]

Measles is spreading rampantly across parts of Alberta — so much so, the province’s health authority has issued a standing measles exposure advisory for the south zone.

The Alberta Health Services (AHS) order is effective immediately and until further notice for the southeastern section of Alberta that includes the cities of Lethbridge and Medicine Hat.

AHS said on Friday it will no longer issue individual alerts each time there is an exposure of the extremely contagious virus that spreads easily through the air and can linger after an infected patient has left an area.

“This standing advisory will replace the use of separate site-specific exposure advisories, which no longer accurately capture the scope of potential risk at this time in the zone,” AHS said.

As of Friday afternoon, there were 408 lab-confirmed cases of measlesin that region — a jump of 19 patients from Thursday — but AHS said the actual scope of the outbreak is much …