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HOUSTON – Southwest Airlines and the Houston Health Service are launching an investigation after an adult passenger with measles recently changed aircraft in Houston.
According to the Texas Department of Health and Human Services, various Texas health services are working to reach the 350 Texans who participated in one of four fights.
Texas health officials say that on August 21, the adult passenger from North Texas boarded a southwest flight to Dallas, flew to Houston, seated in the area of ?? waiting for an hour and then embarked on a southwest flight to Harlingen.
On August 22, the same adult passenger boarded a flight to Harlingen, waited an hour in Houston before taking another flight to Dallas.
Houston health officials say that so far, they have contacted 17 of the 27 Houston passengers who were on those flights.
They say the good news is that none of them has shown signs or symptoms of measles.
"We will go to the other 10 to make sure they know and monitor their symptoms," said Porfirio Villarreal, spokesman for the Houston Department of Health.
Villarreal says these 27 passengers are all from Houston and have all participated in at least one of the following four flights:
- August 21, flight 5 southwest of Dallas to Hobby
- August 21, Flight 9 from Houston to Harlingen
- August 22, flight 665 from Harlingen to Hobby
- August 22, flight 44 to return to Dallas
He also said that symptoms could still appear until next Wednesday.
"The people we care about most are those people on the plane," Villareal said.
According to officials, the contagious passenger never visited restaurants or airport locations and stayed in the waiting room for about an hour each time.
"The virus is transmitted when a sick person coughs or sneezes, and this is … It's very contagious and it's the bad news," Villarreal said. "The good news is that in Houston, we have a good percentage of the vaccination rate. For example, we have children under 3 years, 95% of these children are properly vaccinated. "
Villarreal said that before this year, their last case of measles reported here in Houston was in 2013. He says he contacted health care providers and asked them, if he saw any signs of measles, to call immediately the health service.
Measles is a highly contagious vaccine-preventable virus that lives in the nose and throat of an infected person. It can spread to others by coughing and sneezing.
Symptoms of measles include: rash, high fever, cough, runny nose, and red and watery eyes. A person who develops measles systems should contact their healthcare provider.
Passengers exposed to this patient may develop symptoms until 12 September 2018, according to the health service.
Children should receive two doses of measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR), starting with the first dose at 12-15 months of age and the second dose between 4 and 6 years of age.
Two doses of the vaccine are 97% effective against measles.
"It reminds us of the importance of proper vaccination," said Dr. David Persse, of the local health authority of the Houston Department of Health. "The vaccine is safe and effective."
This survey is coordinated by the Department of Health Services of the State of Texas (DSHS).
© 2018 KHOU
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