Authorities Tracking Measles Exposure At NoVA Airport, Other Sites In DMV

ALEXANDRIA, VA – A person with a confirmed case of measles traveled through Washington Dulles International Airport on Wednesday, June 17, the Virginia Health Department has announced.

The person is known to have passed through Dulles’ Concourse C, traveled on transportation to the International Arrivals Building (IAB) and waited in the baggage claim area between 6 a.m. and 11 a.m. Wednesday, June 17.

The person travelled internationally.

Virginia health officials say they are working to identify anyone who might have been exposed while the infected person was in transit.

Anyone who was at those sites during those dates and times is asked to report their exposure by completing this survey.

Additionally, the VHD advises anyone who might have been exposed to confirm their vaccination status, contact a healthcare provider or local health department if they haven’t been vaccinated, and watch for measles symptoms for 21 days following exposure.

The last day to watch for symptoms in this exposure case is July 8, according to the VDH.

Common early measles symptoms are a fever of more than 101 degrees, a runny nose, watery red eyes and a cough. The disease progresses to a rash 3 to 5 days after symptoms start.

The Maryland Department of Health reports that the traveler is a Maryland resident who visited multiple areas in Maryland and Washington, DC, while contagious. In addition to the exposure location in Dulles, the person is known to have visited the Mary’s Center Adams Morgan Clinic at 2333 Ontario Road NW in Washington, D.C., between 4 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on June 17.

Maryland and District health departments are working to identify and notify anyone the infected individual might have come into contact with.

Measles is a very contagious illness that can spread through the air when an infected person sneezes or coughs. According to the Centers for Disease Control, infectious measles particles can linger in a room up to 2 hours after an infected person was present there, and a person with measles can infect up to 9 out of 10 people they come into close contact with if those people are not protected. In rare instances, the disease can cause serious health complications and death.

The VDH says Virginia has a high measles vaccination rate, with approximately 95 percent of kindergarteners fully vaccinated against the disease. They consider the risk to the general public from this exposure to be low. However, unvaccinated people, including infants who are too young to be vaccinated, are at high risk of developing the disease if exposed.

So far this year, the state has seen 129 cases of measles, with 106 of them associated with an ongoing outbreak in Buckingham County.

Exposures can be reported here.

More information from the VDH, including resources to find local health departments, can be found here.