Thousands of travelers at a major East Coast airport may have been exposed to measles, health officials warn.
The Maryland Department of Health said this week that a case of measles has been confirmed in the Baltimore metro area in a resident who traveled internationally.
The unidentified individual passed through Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport’s Customs federal inspection station in the international terminals arrivals area on April 12 from 7:50pm to 10:30pm.
The individual visited a FastMed Urgent Care in the area on April 14, from 5 to 8pm, and April 17 from 12 to 3:30pm. They also went to the emergency department and pediatric emergency department at Sinai Hospital on April 17 from 3:30 to 7:10pm.
No details, including the individual’s age and vaccination status, were provided. It’s also unclear where they traveled from.
Health officials are still working to identify anyone who may have been in contact with the individual and exposed to measles. The virus can remain in the air for up to two hours after an infectious person passes through an area, and patients only need to be exposed for 15 minutes to trigger an infection.
The health department is also warning anyone, particularly unvaccinated individuals, who may have been exposed to the virus to watch for symptoms, which typically start as a cough or fever.
They are also urging the public to ensure they are up to date on the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Two doses of the shot slash the risk of infection by 97 percent. For unvaccinated people, nine in 10 of those exposed to the virus will get infected.
Passengers at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (pictured above) may have been exposed to measles, health officials have warned
‘Vaccination remains essential to protecting ourselves, our families, and our communities against measles and other infectious diseases,’ Maryland Department of Health Deputy Secretary for Public Health Services Dr Meg Sullivan said.
‘Talk with your healthcare provider to ensure you and your family are up to date with all recommended vaccines, including the MMR vaccine.’
The MMR vaccine is typically given once between ages 12 and 15 months and again between ages four and six.
Nationwide, 92.5 percent of kindergarteners are fully vaccinated against measles, below the CDC’s 95 percent threshold for herd immunity. In Maryland, 96 percent of kindergarteners have been fully vaccinated.
Measles, which is highly infectious, is characterized by cough, fever, a distinctive, blotchy rash that starts in the face before spreading down the body and tiny white spots inside the mouth called Koplik spots.
The virus spreads through direct contact with infectious droplets or through the air. Patients with a measles infection are contagious from four days before the rash through four days after the rash appears. Enclosed areas like airports and planes are extremely risky locations for disease transmission.
It first invades the respiratory system, then spreads to the lymph nodes and throughout the body. As a result, the virus can affect the lungs, brain and central nervous system.
Measles causes a distinctive rash as pictured in the above stock image. In severe cases, it can also lead to pneumonia and brain swelling
While measles sometimes causes milder symptoms, including diarrhea, sore throat and achiness, it leads to pneumonia in roughly six percent of otherwise healthy children, and more often in malnourished children.
Though the brain swelling that measles can trigger is rare, occurring in about one in 1,000 cases, it is deadly in roughly 15 to 20 percent of those who develop it, while about 20 percent are left with permanent neurological damage such as brain damage, deafness or intellectual disability.
Measles also severely damages a child’s immune system, making them susceptible to other potentially devastating bacterial and viral infections they were previously protected against.
Before MMR vaccines became available in the 1960s, measles caused epidemics with up to 2.6 million global deaths every year. By 2023, that number had fallen to roughly 107,000 deaths.
Nationwide, 2026 is already the second-worst year for measles cases in 34 years.
So far, the US has recorded 1,748 cases of the disease, with 10 infections recorded in the week to April 12, the latest CDC data available shows.
This is already nearly three times the 652 measles infections that were recorded by this time last year. In 2025, the US registered 2,285 measles cases.
Currently, 98 measles patients have been hospitalized, but no deaths have been recorded. There were three deaths last year.
