CHICAGO (WBBM/CNN) – Health officials say some travelers at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago have been exposed to measles after a passenger with a confirmed case of the disease arrived on an international flight on Wednesday, Jan. 10.
The Illinois Department of Public Health says those who were at the airport between 6:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. CT might have been exposed.
"Measles is a very contagious virus, and it can hang around in the air for up to an hour or two after a person has left,” said Dr. Allison Bartlett with University of Chicago Medicine. “So, certainly the people who were on the plane with this individual are at risk of getting the infection, but so are the other people who may have shared the same space with this person during this six-hour period that they were at O'Hare.”
Among the symptoms of measles are coughing, rash, high fever and red, watery eyes.
"I'm not worried about it because my kids are vaccinated, but if they weren't, I definitely would be very concerned," said one traveler at O’Hare.
Copyright 2018 WBBM via CNN. All rights reserved.
