Idaho state health authorities are notifying travelers through the Boise Airport of a possible measles exposure on Sunday, March 29.
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare officials said Thursday in a press release that a person with measles traveled through the airport between 1:30 a.m. and 7:40 a.m. Local public health district officials notified the airport and are contacting those who shared flights with the person, the release said.
“Measles is a highly contagious virus that spreads through the air when infected people cough, sneeze, or talk,” the release said. “People who aren’t protected against measles can get the virus up to two hours after someone else with measles left the same room or area.”
The early symptoms of measles are fever, runny nose, cough, and red, watery eyes, followed by a rash. In some people, it can be a very serious infection that leads to pneumonia, brain infection, and death.
Several countries and parts of the U.S. are experiencing measles outbreaks, the health agency wrote. Idaho’s neighbor Utah has reported the second-highest count of measles cases in the nation so far this year, the Utah News Dispatch reported recently. As of April 3, there were 559 total people infected with measles, Utah News Dispatch reported.
In Idaho, the state health agency has reported 23 cases of measles as of Wednesday, in six counties since August 2025. All of the cases were patients who weren’t vaccinated or their vaccination status wasn’t known, according to the agency’s data dashboard. Cases have been reported in Bonner, Bonneville, Boundary, Canyon, Kootenai and Madison counties.
The measles, mumps and rubella and rubella, or MMR, vaccine is extremely effective at preventing measles and is routinely recommended for children 12-15 months of age, with a second dose at age 4-6 years, the health agency said in the release. Infants under 12 months are not routinely recommended to receive the vaccine and are not protected. However, infants 6 to 11 months are recommended to receive a dose of MMR vaccine to protect them before traveling internationally.
Families who are traveling outside the United States or to an area in the United States with a large outbreak are encouraged to speak to their infant’s doctor at least two weeks before travel.
For more information about measles, see cdc.gov/measles/about/index.html. For international travel health notices from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, see cdc.gov/travel/notices/.
This article was written by Laura Guido of the Idaho Capital Sun.