Health officials in the D.C. area and in Philadelphia warn that a child with measles traveled via plane and Amtrak last Wednesday and possibly exposed others to the disease.
The child, unnamed by the health agencies, was as old as 4, the Virginia Department of Health said.
People who on Wednesday were at Philadelphia International Airport’s Terminal A East from 7:50 p.m. to 11 p.m., at William H Gray III 30th Street Station for Amtrak from 8:15 p.m. to 11:25 p.m. and on the southbound Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 175 from 9:23 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. are at risk of exposure, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health said.
Due to the child’s travel on the Amtrak train, people in Maryland and the District also are at risk of exposure. The southbound train ended its trip at Union Station, and DC Health reiterated warnings that people on the train could have been exposed.
The Maryland Department of Health warned that people who used the Amtrak shuttle to and from the train station at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport or the drop-off points outside the airport’s lower level between 10:45 p.m. Wednesday and 1:30 a.m. Thursday were potentially exposed.
In addition, people who used the BWI parking shuttle to and from the airport’s lower level and long-term parking lots between 11 p.m. Wednesday and 2 a.m. Thursday were at risk of measles exposure, Maryland health officials said.
DC Health and Virginia health officials also mentioned potential exposure at the emergency department and executive medicine suite of the Alexander T. Augusta Military Medical Center in Fort Belvoir between 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight Friday.
All of the involved agencies said people who were born before 1957 or who have received two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine are considered protected. In turn, they urged people not fully vaccinated to do so as soon as possible.
One dose of the MMR vaccine is considered 93% effective at stopping a person from contracting measles, while two doses are considered 97% effective, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Officials expect symptoms to begin in people who contracted measles due to the exposure last week between Friday and Jan. 30, according to WTTG.
