FILE – A health worker talks to people before administering measles tests outside Seminole Hospital District, Feb. 21, 2025, in Seminole, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
By Devi Shastri
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The U.S. is having its worst year for measles spread since 1991, with a total of 1,288 cases nationally and another six months to go. But in Gaines County, Texas, which was once the nation’s epicenter for measles activity, health officials said they are no longer seeing ongoing measles transmission.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention count, updated Wednesday, is 14 more cases than in all of 2019, when the U.S. almost lost its status of having eliminated measles. There’ve been three deaths in the U.S. this year, and all were unvaccinated: two elementary school-aged children in West Texas and an adult in New Mexico.
A vast majority of this year’s cases are from Texas, where a major outbreak raged through the late winter and spring, but where no new outbreak cases were reported this week. Other states with active outbreaks — which the CDC defines as three or more related cases — include Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Utah. Missouri confirmed its first outbreak July 3.
North America has three other large outbreaks. The longest, in Ontario, Canada, has resulted in 2,223 cases from mid-October through July 2. The province logged its first death June 5 in a baby who got congenital measles but also had other preexisting conditions.
Another outbreak in Alberta, Canada, has sickened 1,246 as of Wednesday. And the Mexican state of Chihuahua had 2,966 measles cases and eight deaths as of Wednesday, according to data from the state health ministry.
Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that’s airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. It is preventable through vaccines and has been considered eliminated from the U.S. since 2000.
How many measles cases are there in Texas?
Texas stayed steady Tuesday with 753 outbreak-related measles cases across 36 counties, most of them in West Texas, state data shows.
Throughout the outbreak, 99 people have been hospitalized. State health officials estimated less than 1% of cases — fewer than 10 — were actively infectious as of Tuesday.
More than half of Texas’ cases are in Gaines County, where the virus started spreading in a close-knit, undervaccinated Mennonite community. The county has had 414 cases since late January — just under 2% of its residents. Statewide, only Lamar County has ongoing measles transmission, officials said Tuesday.
The state also said Tuesday there are 39 cases across 19 counties that don’t have a clear link to the outbreak now but may end up added to it after further investigation.
The April 3 death in Texas was an 8-year-old child, according to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Local health officials said the child did not have underlying health conditions and died of “what the child’s doctor described as measles pulmonary failure.” An unvaccinated child with no underlying conditions died of measles in Texas in late February; Kennedy said the child was 6.
Where else is measles showing up in the U.S.?
Measles cases also have been reported this year in Alaska, Arkansas, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.
Health officials declared earlier outbreaks in Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania over after six weeks of no new cases. Tennessee’s outbreak also appears to be over.
Cases and outbreaks in the U.S. are frequently traced to someone who caught the disease abroad. The CDC said in May that more than twice as many measles cases have come from outside of the U.S. compared to May of last year. Most of those are in unvaccinated Americans returning home.
What do you need to know about the MMR vaccine?
The best way to avoid measles is to get the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. The first shot is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old and the second between 4 and 6 years old.
Getting another MMR shot as an adult is harmless if there are concerns about waning immunity, the CDC says. People who have documentation of receiving a live measles vaccine in the 1960s don’t need to be revaccinated, but people who were immunized before 1968 with an ineffective vaccine made from “killed” virus should be revaccinated with at least one dose, the agency said.
People who have documentation that they had measles are immune and those born before 1957 generally don’t need the shots because so many children got measles back then that they have “presumptive immunity.”
Measles has a harder time spreading through communities with high vaccination rates — above 95% — due to “herd immunity.” But childhood vaccination rates have declined nationwide since the pandemic and more parents are claiming religious or personal conscience waivers to exempt their kids from required shots.
What are the symptoms of measles?
Measles first infects the respiratory tract, then spreads throughout the body, causing a high fever, runny nose, cough, red, watery eyes and a rash.
The rash generally appears three to five days after the first symptoms, beginning as flat red spots on the face and then spreading downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet. When the rash appears, the fever may spike over 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the CDC.
Most kids will recover from measles, but infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and death.
How can you treat measles?
There’s no specific treatment for measles, so doctors generally try to alleviate symptoms, prevent complications, and keep patients comfortable.
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