The West Virginia Department of Health put out a notice Friday evening stating that a patient with measles passed through Washington Dulles International Airport on June 19.
Those with additional questions about potential exposure are asked to call the Department of Health’s Office of Epidemiology and Prevention Services at 304-558-5358.
Dr. Brian Huggins, health officer for the Monongalia County Health Department, says unlike the flu or COVID-19 which spread via droplets, measles is airborne.
“I tell people with measles that if you’re in a movie theater with someone that has measles and they cough, that entire movie theater is going to be exposed, and it’s going to linger in the air for potentially a few hours,” Huggins said.
According to Huggins, one patient with measles would be expected to infect eight or nine other people in a population where all individuals are susceptible to infection, a number known as an infection’s R0 value or its basic reproduction number. For comparison, the measles have an R0 of eight where flu and COVID-19 have an R0 of around three and four, respectively.
Huggins said therefore the notification is important because of how contagious measles is for any West Virginians who may have been in the airport at that time. However, Huggins said vaccination plays a key role in an individual’s potential risk.
“If you have never been vaccinated, then you’re obviously at significant risk, and if you develop any symptoms, you should contact your healthcare provider,” he said. “If you have had a single dose of the vaccine, in 90% of people the first vaccine is actually effective. The second dose actually gets us up to about 98%. So if you’ve had two doses, which is the normal childhood vaccine, you are almost definitely protected.”
Symptoms typically begin with a fever, followed by a cough, runny nose and watery eyes. Spots in the mouth, known as Koplik’s spots, then develop and are considered one of the hallmarks of a measles infection.
“Then a few days after that, you’ll actually start to get the rash across your body,” Huggins said. “It doesn’t start with the rash, it usually just starts with the fever and symptoms like that, and it is contagious at that point.”
An increase in individuals remaining unvaccinated against infections like measles means public health officers like Huggins are taking these exposures more seriously than even just a few years ago. In Texas, 750 cases have been confirmed since late January in an ongoing outbreak of measles.
“It becomes definitely an alert, because there is still deaths that occur, especially with children with measles and hospitalizations and severe disease,” Huggins said. “With that, it’s really important for us to let people know, that have chosen not to be vaccinated, that this disease is a potential spread in this moment, just so that people are aware.”
Despite a low mortality rate, Huggins stressed that deaths do still occur from infections like measles even though they are preventable.
“I don’t ever want to discourage people from having different beliefs, but this is a very preventable disease, and we will probably start to see more of these notices through time,” he said. “So as we see different rates of vaccination, and as measles is spreading around the world, it may not be just measles. It could be polio in the future. So pay attention for these alerts. If you see these alerts, make sure that you read them so that you can see if maybe you’re at risk.”
Wesley JvR/peopleimages.com/Adobe Stock
