Los Angeles County confirmed its first case of measles since 2020, involving a resident who traveled internationally in late January.
The infected person, whose age and identity weren’t made public, traveled on a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Los Angeles International Airport on Jan. 25 at 5 p.m. Since the disease is highly contagious and particles linger in the air for hours, the county Department of Public Health said in a news release Thursday that anyone who was in Terminal B, between 5 and 9 p.m. Pacific that day, may have been exposed to the sick traveler. Local health officials said they were working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to notify passengers who were seated near the person on the flight.
The California patient is the latest in a spate of recent measles cases around the country that prompted a CDC alert last week to health providers to check for the disease. The highly infectious virus is often caught by young people eligible for the vaccine who did not receive before traveling abroad, the CDC said. Measles cases are also rising globally.