Texas Measles Outbreak Grows to 90 Cases, Health Officials Say

This undated image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Feb. 4, 2015, shows an electron microscope image of a measles virus particle, centre. The Canadian Press/AP-Cynthia Goldsmith/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via AP

A outbreak of measles cases in western Texas has grown to 90 cases since last month, according to new data released on Friday by state health officials.

Sixteen of the patients were hospitalized and no deaths were reported, the Texas Department of Health and Human Services said, adding that five of the cases involved individuals who received the measles vaccine. The remainder were not vaccinated or their status is not known, officials said.

“Due to the highly contagious nature of this disease, additional cases are likely to occur in the outbreak area and the surrounding communities,” the agency said.

The majority of the cases, or 57, were located in Gaines County, while 20 cases were reported in Terry County. Six were reported in Dawson, four in Yoakum, one in Ector, one in Lynn, and one in Lubbock counties, officials said.

Twenty-six measles cases occurred in children aged 4 and under, while 51 were confirmed in children aged 5 to 17, officials said. Ten cases were reported in everyone else and three were marked as “pending” by state health officials.

In neighboring eastern New Mexico, the measles case count is up to nine, though state public health officials said on Thursday that there’s still no evidence this outbreak is connected to the one in Texas.

Texas health officials have said this outbreak is the state’s largest in nearly 30 years. Health department spokeswoman Lara Anton said last week that cases have been concentrated in a Mennonite community and namely among families who attend small private religious schools or are homeschooled.

Gaines County has one of the highest rates in Texas of school-aged children who opt out of at least one required vaccine, with nearly 14 percent of K–12 children in the 2023–2024 school year, health officials have said. That number is likely higher because it doesn’t include many children who are homeschooled and whose data would not be reported, officials also said.

Last year, across the United States, 40 percent of the 285 people who were confirmed to have contracted measles in the United States were hospitalized, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 42 percent of that figure involved children under the age of 5, while 31 percent were children and adolescents aged 5 to 17.

That same year, there were several measles outbreaks connected to individuals who had a recent history of international travel. In June, officials warned that one individual may have exposed other travelers at Philadelphia International Airport.

An outbreak also occurred at a Chicago shelter that was housing illegal immigrants, involving at least 57 cases, according to the CDC.

Measles, a respiratory virus that can survive in the air for as many as two hours, can lead to symptoms such as high fever, cough, conjunctivitis, and coryza, or inflammation of the mucus membrane in the nose. Spots can also appear on a person’s skin before a rash appears about 14 days after a person is exposed, the CDC says.

The CDC last year sent out a “health alert” over what it said at the time was an increase in global measles cases and that health providers should ensure that people traveling internationally have had the measles vaccine.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.