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ST. LOUIS — A person with a confirmed case of measles visited the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Aquarium and a local restaurant last week, potentially exposing others to the highly contagious virus.

The out-of-state resident went to the aquarium in Union Station on April 30 between 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. They also ate at a restaurant in the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ area on the same day, but details are limited according to a news release from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

Anyone who was also at the aquarium during that time frame should watch for the symptoms of measles, which can include fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and the characteristic red, bumpy rash. Symptoms can take one to two weeks to appear after an exposure, said Dr. Farrin Mabian, an infectious disease specialist at Mercy in Creve Coeur.

Mabian said he was not surprised to hear of the measles case in the region after 935 cases have been reported in the U.S. this year. A child visiting Branson was diagnosed with measles on April 18, marking the first reported case of the measles in Missouri. Shortly after, a measles case was found in southern Illinois. The hospitalization rate in this year’s outbreaks is 13%, and three people have died.

“We have been kind of hearing the hoofbeats for a while now,� Mabian said. “It’s a respiratory virus, kind of like flu and COVID but it is much more contagious.�

One person with measles can potentially infect 12 to 18 people who are susceptible to measles, meaning they are not fully vaccinated or have not caught the virus in the past. The contagious period can extend from four days before the rash develops to four days after its onset, Mabian said.

“Of course, when you go to a public venue, it’s going to be impossible to really know who the exposed people were,� he said.

Public health officials with the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ city and county health departments did not respond Monday to interview requests.

Federal health officials declared measles to be eradicated in 2000 due to high vaccine uptake. A vaccine rate of 95% or higher is needed to achieve herd immunity with measles, Mabian said.

“The herd immunity is really, really important for measles because it’s such a highly contagious virus,� he said.

Anyone who is unvaccinated, including babies under one year and people who are immunocompromised are especially at risk of infection.

Julia Bietsch of St. Charles said she is nervous about venturing out with her second daughter, who was just born Thursday.

“While my other child is vaccinated, I am very nervous to leave the hospital with a little human that has no protection from measles right now,� Bietsch said.

Health officials say the best way to prevent the spread of measles is to receive two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, vaccine. The recommended childhood vaccine schedule starts with an MMR dose between 12 and 15 months and again at 4 to 5 years old.

Anyone born before 1957 is considered immune to measles because of environmental exposures, as are those born after 1989 and are fully vaccinated. But people generally born between 1958 and 1988 may need a booster because they likely only got one dose of the vaccine, which was the recommendation at the time.

“It’s really important for us going forward that people who are eligible for vaccination and have never had measles actually get full immunization,� Mabian said.