What should you do if you think you have the measles?

Measles spreads quickly, and can expose others at hospitals and clinics. Experts urge precautions for suspected cases to protect vulnerable patients like newborns.

As measles spreads across the country, sick children and adults are exposing other patients — including newborn babies — when they seek care at hospitals, pediatrician’s offices and urgent care centers.

Medical experts say that to help control the spread of measles, one of the world’s most contagious viruses, people with suspected cases should take precautions before visiting a doctor’s office or the emergency room.

“I never want to discourage anyone from seeking care,” said Dr. Alison Haddock, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians. But “measles is highly contagious, and it is dangerous to expose others.”

Walking into a crowded clinic or emergency department, especially without a mask, can infect others in the waiting room, including patients who are pregnant, medically vulnerable or immunocompromised, said Dr. Ari Brown, a pediatrician in Austin, Texas, and spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics. An unvaccinated child with measles, who had been infected while traveling abroad, sparked an outbreak in San Diego in 2008 that included children in the waiting room of a pediatrician’s office.

“If you have any concerns” about being infected with measles, “do not just show up at the pediatrician’s office. Do not just show up at the ER,” Brown said. “Call first so they can be prepared.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-health/measles-what-to-do-if-you-think-you-have-it-rcna198596

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