Passengers who were at a huge international airport could be at risk from a highly-infectious disease after a passenger tested positive. Health officials are cautioning travellers of a potential measles outbreak at Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia, USA.
This comes after a passenger on an international flight tested positive for the respiratory illness, which is one of the world’s most contagious diseases. The airport serves the Washington, DC, Virginia and Maryland region, therefore travellers who were at the airport on August 12 have now been alerted that they could be at high risk of carrying the virus. Anyone fearing that they may have been exposed to the virus have been advised to confirm if they have been vaccinated.
The traveller infected with the disease passed through the main terminal at the airport and security checkpoint before going to Concourse B between 1pm and 5pm on August 12.
So far in 2025, only three cases of measles have been reported in the state of Virginia – one of which is linked to a passenger passing through Washington Dulles International Airport.
Across the whole of the Unites States, more than 1,375 cases of measles have been officially recorded. Of these, more than 60% were present in children and teenagers, and a whopping 95% of cases occurred in individuals without the measles vaccine.
The number of deaths from the disease so far this year stands at three – two of these were children and all three were unvaccinated.
Infections are now surging to the highest recorded level since 1992 when over 2,100 cases were recorded.
According to researchers at Stanford University, at current vaccination rates in the US coupled with the spread, the country may lose its measles elimination status within the year.
Measles currently spreads at a rate of one infected person to an average of 12 to 18 susceptible people, making it one of the most contagious diseases on earth.
The vaccine is administered in two doses, the first after 15 months old, and the second when the child reaches four to six.
Symptoms of the illness include a fever, cough, blocked or runny nose, red, sore and watery eyes, spots and mouth and more obviously, a rash.
