A confirmed case of the measles in the region has health officials encouraging residents to be immunized.

Vancouver Coastal Health says that anyone born before 1994 or who grew up outside of B.C. may have only received one dose of the measles vaccine.

That means they may require a second dose.

"Measles is highly infectious and spread through the air when someone who is infected coughs or sneezes," the health authority states on its website. "You don’t have to be in close contact with someone to contract the infection. You could spend just a few minutes in the same room as someone and get it, though, the closer the contact, the higher the risk."

There's no risk from the one case that's been confirmed because the person has passed the period when it would be contagious.

Symptoms include a fever, red eyes that might be sensitive to light, a cough, runny nose, and a rash.

There's been an outbreak of the measles this year in Washington state and Oregon, with dozens of confirmed cases.

When Washington lawmakers brought forward a bill to make it more difficult for families to avoid vaccinations, about 700 people showed up in Olympia for a protest, according to the Washington Post.

Among those who testified against the bill was Robert F. Kennedy Jr.