- The Ohio Department of Health said an infected child passed through Terminal A
- It is working with the CDC to identify people who may have been exposed.
- READ MORE: Is the US facing its biggest measles outbreak in years?
Travelers at the Cincinnati airport in Kentucky may have been exposed to measles, health officials warned.
The Ohio Department of Health issued the advisory after a Montgomery County child infected with the deadly disease passed through Terminal A at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport last week.
Those who traveled through that area between 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. on January 27 and between 8:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. may have been exposed.
“ODH is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other state and local health officials to identify people who may have been exposed, including contact with potentially exposed passengers on specific flights,” it said. the agency.
Travelers at the Cincinnati airport in Kentucky may have been exposed to measles, health officials warned.
Top states have had measles cases recorded this year
They said the warning was “out of an abundance of caution.” It is related to Ohio’s first case of 2024: the Montgomery County boy.
Measles is very contagious. Children infected with the virus that causes the condition can spread it to other people, up to three weeks before they develop symptoms.
The measles virus can live for up to two hours in the air after an infected person leaves the room, according to a news release from Dayton and Montgomery County.
Nine out of 10 unvaccinated children who are exposed to measles will become infected.
Symptoms usually appear seven to 14 days after contact with the virus.
It can cause a life-threatening high fever, red rash, cough, fatigue, and watery eyes.
The rash usually starts on the face and behind the ears before spreading to the rest of the body, and the spots sometimes rise and join together to form spots. They don’t usually bite.
On white skin, the rash looks brown, but it may be harder to see on brown and black skin.
In some cases, the infection can also cause sensitivity to light, pneumonia, and inflammation of the brain.
One in five children who become infected ends up in the hospital, and one in 15 develops serious complications such as meningitis or sepsis. For every 1,000 children who get measles, one or two will die from it.
About five percent of children with measles can develop pneumonia, which is the most common cause of death in young children with measles.
Additionally, about one in a thousand children who contract measles may experience brain inflammation or encephalitis, characterized by inflammation of the brain, leading to seizures and possible consequences such as deafness or intellectual disability.
Measles, a disease that until recently was thought to have been relegated to history, has reemerged across the United States.
Georgia confirmed its first infected patient in nearly four years last month, making it the fifth state to declare cases of the ultra-contagious virus so far this year.
Delaware, Washington State, New Jersey and Pennsylvania has also reported cases, and doctors fear this is just the tip of the iceberg, with more measles cases expected to emerge throughout 2024.
A total of at least 15 cases have been reported this year alone, while 41 were confirmed last year, and there are signs that vaccination rates among children, the population most at risk of getting sick, have reached new lows.
Nationally, nearly four percent of children entering kindergarten were not vaccinated against MMR, the lowest rate since the 2013-14 school year, raising the odds of seeing a surge in infections.