(Bloomberg) — A measles patient traveled to Washington, DC, on an Amtrak train without knowing their health status on March 19, further exposing people to the highly infectious disease as the national outbreak grows.
DC health officials confirmed the positive case on Tuesday and are alerting people who may have been exposed to the positive person. These sites included the southbound Amtrak Northeast Regional 175 on March 19 from 7:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., those inside Union Station and then anyone who was at the MedStar Urgent Care in Adams Morgan March 22 from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Health officials did not give details on the person’s age, vaccination status or where the person got onto the train. It’s DC’s first confirmed case as Texas handles a measles outbreak and travel-related cases continue to grow nationwide, already outpacing last year’s totals.
Texas reported 18 new measles cases on Tuesday, bringing the state’s total to 327, health officials said, a 6% increase from the last update on March 21. There has been one measles-related death in Texas.
Nine out of 10 people exposed to a positive measles case could contract the virus if they are unvaccinated, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Last Friday, the CDC reported 378 cases nationwide so far in 2025. The agency acknowledges it’s probably an undercount and only counts confirmed cases as of noon the Thursday prior.
Katherine Wells, director of public health in Lubbock, Texas, said she expects the outbreak to continue for at least a year because of how infectious the disease is. And with people traveling for spring break, Wells says another big uptick in cases could come in the two weeks after symptoms start to show.
Contact tracing efforts have been difficult in the state due to the amount of potential exposures from one positive measles case, especially for people exposed at doctor’s offices and hospitals, Wells said.
Some newborn babies in local Lubbock hospitals in the past six weeks have already been exposed, Wells said. She says that other immunocompromised people, including cancer patients, could have severe complications if they contract the virus.
–With assistance from Bill Haubert and Tonya Garcia.
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