A Northern Virginia child with measles traveled through Philadelphia as well as Maryland and D.C. while contagious after contracting the disease internationally, public health officials said.
The child, who is 4 or younger, traveled Wednesday evening from Philadelphia International Airport, to the Philadelphia train station, where they took an Amtrak train to Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport, officials said. The child rode the parking shuttle at the airport that night, Maryland officials said.
On Friday morning, the child was taken to a hospital in Fairfax County, Virginia,Marylandand D.C. health department officials said.
A Virginia health official declined to share where the child traveled abroad, their vaccination status or condition.
Public health experts are warning of potential exposures to measles, a highly contagious and potentially deadly virus, which can remain in the air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves an area, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
“We believe there is no threat to the general public associated with this case of measles,” said Philadelphia Health Commissioner Palak Raval-Nelson said in a statement. “We encourage people who were possibly exposed to take action if they are not protected against measles.”
“The best way to prevent measles is with the MMR vaccine,” said Meredith Robinson, the vaccine-preventable disease epidemiologist at the Virginia Health Department. “Two doses is 97 percent effective and provides lifetime protection. Especially when traveling abroad it’s really important to know your vaccination status.”
Most people in Virginia, Maryland and D.C. have immunity to measles through vaccination, making the risk to the general public low, public health officials said. However, they are trying to identify people who might have come into contact with the virus at the following places:
- Philadelphia International Airport, Terminal A East on Wednesday from 7:50 to 11 p.m.
- William H. Gray III, 30th Street Station in Philadelphia on Wednesday from 8:15 to 11:25 p.m.
- Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 175 from Philadelphia 30th Street Station headed to Union Station in D.C. on Wednesday from 9 to 11:30 p.m.
- Amtrak BWI shuttle to and from the BWI train station and the drop-off points outside the lower level of the airport on Wednesday from 10:45 p.m. to Thursday at 1:30 a.m.
- BWI airport parking shuttle to and from the lower-level outside of BWI and BWI’s long-term parking lots on Wednesday from 11 p.m. to Thursday at 2 a.m.
- Alexander T. Augusta Military Medical Center Emergency Department and Executive Medicine Suite, formerly Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, 9300 DeWitt Loop in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, on Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight.
The most likely time frame for a person exposed to the virus to develop symptoms is Jan. 16 to Jan. 30, Virginia officials said. Symptoms could develop up to 21 days after the potential exposure, and monitoring for symptoms is especially important for people who are not fully vaccinated or otherwise immune to measles.
Anyone who might have been exposed and is considered to be at risk of developing measles should contact their health care provider promptly before going to a hospital so the facility can prevent spread of the infection, Virginia and Maryland health officials said.
In the first stage of measles symptoms, which usually start seven to 14 days after exposure, most people have a fever greater than 101 degrees, runny nose, watery red eyes and cough. The second stage starts three to five days after symptoms start, when a rash begins to appear on the face and spreads to the rest of the body.
People with measles are contagious from four days before the rash appears through four days after the rash appears.
Epidemiologists are investigating outbreaks of measles throughout the United States, many of which have been linked to unvaccinated people or people whose vaccination status is unknown, but the Northern Virginia child’s case of measles was linked to international travel. It’s common for regional health officials to report a handful of cases annually in people who contracted the illness while out of the country.
Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded at least 2,144 cases of measles across dozens of states in 2025 as of Tuesday. More than half of them occurred among children.
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