The Nassau Health Department has issued a measles alert after a 40-year-old woman contracted the highly contagious disease.

Health officials say the woman caught the disease from a 2-year-old she came into contact with at a doctor?s office. The child, whose case of measles was confirmed two weeks ago, had not been vaccinated.

Officials say the infected woman went shopping at the Super Stop and Shop on Fulton Avenue in Hempstead on May 11 between 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Since the virus can linger in the air for up to three hours, they say anyone in the store between 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. may have been exposed.

Doctors say early symptoms include a runny nose, cough and a slight fever. Later symptoms could be a high fever and a red, blotchy rash that begins on the face and then spreads over the body. Officials urge anyone who has symptoms and was at the Stop and Shop NOT to go to a doctor, but to call one. They say because measles is so contagious, others could be infected.