Department of Health warns of possible measles exposure in Virginia
VIRGINIA - The Virginia Department of Health is out with an alert for people who may have been exposed to the measles.
They’ve confirmed a case in a traveler who was in both Dulles and Reagan Airports.
The measles is regarded as the most dangerous preventable disease.
Experts say international travel is a big contributor to cases in the U.S.
According to the Virginia Department of Health, that’s what happened here.
The health department is notifying anyone who was inside Dulles in the international arrivals area of the main terminal between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 3 and anyone inside terminal A of DCA between 2:30 and 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 4 to monitor themselves for symptoms.
Meredith Robinson is the vaccine-preventable disease coordinator with the Virginia Department of Health. Robinson tells FOX 5 anyone who might have been in either airports at that time, should monitor themselves for symptoms until Jan. 25.
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"Measles is always a public health concern, because it’s really contagious, it spreads very easily through the air when the infected individual breathes, coughs, or sneezes. So anyone who’s in a shared airspace with that individual or enters the airspace two hours after that person left is vulnerable to contracting measles if they are unvaccinated," Robinson said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the year before the pandemic, 2019, was the largest number of cases in nearly 30 years.
During COVID, there was a decrease, but Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease doctor with Johns Hopkins University says kids getting off their childhood immunization schedules during the pandemic and an increase in vaccine hesitancy could contribute to increases of an entirely preventable and dangerous illness.
The U.S. is good at immunizations compared to other countries, Adalja says.
"Measles is the most contagious infectious disease known to humans, and often because it’s linked to travel, airports are going to be involved, because measles isn’t endemic to the United States, but in many parts of Asia, Europe, Africa, measles is endemic, so often times when a case is identified, they’re going to trace it back, where was this person. Because this is such a travel-related infection, it’s going to involve an airport, so public health officials tell people exactly where exposures could have occurred," Adalja said.
Last year, U.S. health officials reported 3% of kindergarteners' parents were opting out of vaccinations to enter school nationwide, a record high.