Urgent health warning at Denver airport as outbreak of world’s most infectious disease spreads

By EMILY JOSHU STERNE, SENIOR HEALTH REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Published: 14:26 BST, 3 June 2025 | Updated: 14:33 BST, 3 June 2025

Measles cases linked to an international flight landing at Denver International Airport have doubled, health officials warn. 

The Colorado Health Department Sunday reported three more passengers aboard Turkish Airlines flight 201 tested positive for the disease after landing on May 13, bringing the total number of cases six.

Of the three new cases, was an adult resident of nearby Arapahoe County who contracted the virus despite being vaccinated. 

The other two were unrelated Colorado residents who were not vaccinated and were reportedly exposed inside the airport.

The vaccinated passenger stayed inside while infectious, but the other two new residents visited a local truck stop, gas station and pharmacy between them, raising fears of further spread.

The health department warned symptoms of measles – including a blotchy rash, fever and cough – could develop as late as June 21 in people who visited those locations between May 27 and May 31.

The total outbreak includes two vaccinated adults and one unvaccinated child under five who is currently hospitalized. 

The health department has warned anyone who was at Denver International Airport, which serves 226,000 passengers per day and is America’s biggest in terms of square feet, on May 13 or 14 should monitor symptoms for 21 days and call their healthcare provider. 

Health officials issued an urgent warning after three more passengers cases of measles were detected at Denver International Airport (pictured here). The total case count connected to Turkish Airlines flight 201, which landed at the airport, is now six

The warning comes days after the CDC told unvaccinated Americans to cancel upcoming flights to avoid measles. Pictured above is a group of passengers at Denver International Airport in December 2022

The cases come days after the CDC called for Americans who have not had the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to cancel upcoming flights to avoid the virus spreading on airplanes. 

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Measles is the most infectious disease in the world, with a patient able to infect nine out of ten unvaccinated people that are exposed.  

Symptoms typically develop seven to 21 days after initial exposure. 

Measles spreads via airborne droplets released in coughs and sneezes, which can hang in the air for up to two hours after a patient passes.

It is particularly dangerous to young children, with the CDC saying one in 20 unvaccinated children who are infected develop pneumonia while one in 1,000 suffer deadly brain swelling. 

Colorado has now detected 10 total cases of measles. 

There is renewed emphasis on measles this year amid a major outbreak in West Texas that is the country’s largest in two decades.

A total of 738 people have been sickened by the outbreak in Texas alone this year, with officials updating case tallies every Tuesday and Friday.

And the US has now crossed a grim milestone nationwide, with 1,088 measles cases being recorded — only the second time this threshold has been crossed since the disease was declared eradicated in 2000.

Two young girls, aged six and eight years, have also died from the disease.

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Urgent health warning at Denver airport as outbreak of world’s most infectious disease spreads

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