The D.C. Department of Health confirmed Tuesday a positive case of measles in a person who visited various locations in the District while contagious.
The unidentified person traveled throughout the nation’s capital within the last week.
Potential exposure sites outlined by the District’s health department include two Amtrak locations and an urgent care location:
- Amtrak Northeast Regional 175 Train Southbound
- March 19, 7:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.
- Amtrak Concourse, Union Station, 50 Massachusetts Ave, NE
- March 19, 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
- MedStar Urgent Care Adams Morgan, 1805 Columbia Road, NW
- March 22, 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Anyone not immune to measles who traveled to the potential exposure sites during the noted dates and times are urged to contact their health care provider or D.C. Health at 844-493-2652 for guidance.
D.C. Health’s alert comes weeks after health officials in Maryland confirmed three measles cases across Howard and Prince George’s counties. All three cases had been contracted by residents who had traveled abroad, and were not related to the outbreaks in New Mexico, Texas or Oklahoma.
Details surrounding the latest confirmed measles case have not yet been provided. It remains unclear whether international travel is at all linked to the D.C. case.
A measles case was previously reported in the District in July 2024.
What are the measles?
The measles is a highly contagious disease that spreads through the air when an infected individual breathes, coughs or sneezes, according to health officials.
More than often appearing in two stages, symptoms don’t typically begin to show until after the seventh day that the virus was contracted. Symptoms range from high fevers, runny nose, watery eyes to tiny white spots that appear in one’s mouth.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the measles rash makes up the second stage of symptoms, appearing on the face along the hairline before spreading throughout the body.
A CDC explainer indicates that “if one person has it, up to 9 out of 10 people nearby will become infected if they are not protected.” It notes the best protection against the virus is the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, better known as the MMR vaccine.
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