Texas measles outbreak worsens with first death
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The measles outbreak in West Texas has surged, causing the first reported measles death in about a decade.
- State health officials confirmed at least 124 cases across nine counties as of Tuesday since the outbreak began in late January.
Why it matters: Health departments in Central Texas are now warning about exposures of the highly contagious disease, signaling the outbreak may be spreading statewide.
- The latest outbreak is the largest in Texas in 30 years.
The big picture: Measles cases have been reported in eight states this year, but most are in Texas, per the CDC.
- Very few of the reported cases have occurred in people vaccinated against the disease.
The latest: Lubbock city officials confirmed Wednesday that an unvaccinated school-age child has died, marking the first reported measles death in the U.S. since 2015.
- Texas reported 34 more measles cases this week compared with the previous report on Friday.
- Eighteen patients have been hospitalized, per state health officials.
- Only five of the patients were known to be vaccinated. The rest were either unvaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown.
Separately, two adult measles cases in Houston were reported in mid-January by the Houston Health Department, which said the infected people lived in the same household and had recently traveled internationally.
- Those cases are not tied to the recent outbreak that started in West Texas.
State of play: An increasing number of Texas parents are opting out of vaccinating their children for personal or religious reasons.
- In Harris County, 2.9% of kindergartners had a vaccine exemption in the 2022-23 school year, state health department data.
- Some surrounding counties saw even higher kindergartner exemption rates in the 2022-23 school year: 4.87% in Montgomery County, 4.7% in Austin County, 3.82% in Galveston County, 3.32% in Brazoria County.
- During the 2023-24 school year, 94.5% of kindergartners and 96.8% of seventh graders in the Houston region had received the MMR vaccine, per Houston Public Media.