In The News: Measles Outbreak Hits Town in Texas

The New York Times has reported on an ongoing and worsening outbreak of measles in west Texas. At the time of reporting in mid-February, 22 children and two adults had been infected with nine needing hospitalization. Every one of the infected were unvaccinated. The Times notes the outbreak follows years of decreasing vaccination rates in the area and a vaccine critic is to become the head of the country’s health secretary. 

In an update from this past week, NBC News reports 49 confirmed cases with suspected cases numbering between 200-300 who have yet to be tested. Hospitalizations have risen to 13. Despite the rise in cases and the ability to request CDC expert assistance, Texas has not yet done so. The agency has shipped 2,000 MMR doses to Texas, however. 

A spokesperson for the Texas Department of State Health Services noted the cases occurred within an insular community near the New Mexico border. In the county with the cases, Gaines County, only 82% of kindergarten students in 2024 had received their measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. That rate lags well behind the state’s vaccination rate, which itself lags the national targeted vaccination rate. Texas public schools require vaccinations. This county has one of the highest exemption rates in the state. 

State public health officials have set up a measles education and vaccine drive in the community and are reporting positive attendance. They endeavor to stay ahead of the spread of the highly contagious disease into surrounding communities. Across the border, the New Mexico Department of Health reported a measles case in a teenager who lived in a county next to Gaines. There was no known exposure, however, to the outbreak in Texas. 

PIDS president-elect, Deb Palazzi, commented on the story. “The situation in Gaines County, Texas serves as an important reminder of the contagiousness and potential severity of measles and other vaccine preventable diseases. As our society knows, measles is highly contagious, with a basic reproduction number (R0) of 12-18, meaning that we can expect 12 to 18 susceptible individuals to develop disease after exposure. In the community in Texas where measles is spreading, rates of vaccination are very low, so large numbers of people are becoming infected, and many are quite ill. Put this in the context of nationally declining measles vaccination since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we have a formula for a formerly rare disease to become prevalent again. It has never been more important than now to use our voices to promote vaccination and treatments of infectious diseases based on sound science.”