Texas measles outbreak grows to 279 cases, mostly among unvaccinated or those with unknown status
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(LUBBOCK, Texas) — The measles outbreak in western Texas is continuing to grow with 20 additional cases confirmed, bringing the total to 279 cases, according to new state data published Tuesday.
Almost all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or in individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). Just two cases are among fully vaccinated individuals. At least 36 people have been hospitalized so far, the state said.
In the Texas outbreak, children and teenagers between ages 5 and 17 make up the majority of cases, at 120, followed by children ages 4 and under making up 88 cases, the DSHS data shows.
“Due to the highly contagious nature of this disease, additional cases are likely to occur in the outbreak area and the surrounding communities,” the DSHS said in its update.
Two likely measles deaths have been reported so far in the U.S. The first reported death was an Texas, according to the DSHS. The child did not have any known underlying conditions, according to the department.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — Moderna has been awarded approximately $590 million from the federal government to help speed up the development of an mRNA-based bird flu vaccine, alongside other influenza vaccines, health officials announced Friday.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a press release that the funding will allow the pharmaceutical company to accelerate the development of an H5N1 mRNA influenza vaccine “that is well matched to strains currently circulating in cows and birds and expands the clinical data supporting the use of mRNA vaccines that may be needed if other influenza strains emerge with pandemic potential.”
Moderna said the funding will support the expansion of clinical studies “for up to five additional subtypes of pandemic influenza.”
The U.S. government previously awarded the vaccine manufacturer $176 million in July 2024 to help expedite the development of an mRNA vaccine that could be used for bird flu.
mRNA technology is the same type that was used in the development of some COVID-19 vaccines. While some vaccines use a weakened or inactive virus to stimulate an immune response, mRNA vaccines teach the body how to make proteins that can trigger an immune response and fight off an infection.
Researchers can often design mRNA vaccines more quickly than they can produce the live or weakened pathogens needed for a live-attenuated or inactivated vaccine.
The federal government already has two bird flu vaccine candidates, which use traditional vaccine technology, available in the nation’s stockpile. Officials previously noted they’d have 10 million ready-to-use doses within the beginning of 2025. Vaccines were being stockpiled as a precaution.
“Avian flu variants have proven to be particularly unpredictable and dangerous to humans in the past. That is why this response has been a top priority for the Biden-Harris Administration and HHS,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement on Friday. “Accelerating the development of new vaccines will allow us to stay ahead and ensure that Americans have the tools they need to stay safe.”
Bird flu cases in humans have been spreading across the country since April 2024 with 67 confirmed cases as of Friday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The first death of a human bird flu patient was reported in Louisiana earlier this month. The patient was over the age of 65 and had underlying medical conditions, according to health officials.
Most human cases have occurred after coming into contact with infected cattle, infected poultry farms or other culling operations.
The CDC and other public health officials say there is currently no evidence of human-to-human transmission and the risk to the general public is low.
ABC News’ Mary Kekatos contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — In his first public comments on the measles outbreak hitting West Texas and New Mexico, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent vaccine skeptic whose first steps in combatting the outbreak will be closely watched, said his department was monitoring the situation daily but called it “not unusual.”
“Incidentally, there have been four measles outbreaks this year in this country. Last year there were 16. So, it’s not unusual, we have measles outbreaks every year,” Kennedy said Wednesday at the White House.
However, some public health experts were quick to point out that the outbreak in Texas has defied America’s recent history with highly contagious disease.
Prior to this outbreak, the U.S. had not seen a death from measles since 2015. And in 2000, years after the U.S. implemented a two-dose vaccine schedule, measles was declared eliminated from the U.S., meaning that the disease had stopped spreading within the country.
Only in recent years have cases and outbreaks been rising, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The outbreak in West Texas and New Mexico is already drawing close to the halfway mark of total cases seen nationally last year, when there were at least 285 cases of measles – which were also the highest numbers since 2019, according to the CDC’s latest figures.
And while there were 16 outbreaks last year, that was a four-time increase from the number of outbreaks in 2023, when there were just four outbreaks. The U.S. has nearly hit that 2023 number already, just two months into 2025.
Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and an attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, called Kennedy’s comments about measles cases happening “every year” an attempt to normalize an outbreak that has been anything but normal.
“First of all, we eliminated measles from this country by the year 2000. The reason measles have come back is because a critical percentage of parents have chosen not to vaccinate their children, because they’ve gotten misinformation and disinformation from people like him and his Children’s Health Defense,” Offit told ABC News.
Children’s Health Defense, a group founded by Kennedy, advocates against the recommended vaccine schedule for children.
“It’s unconscionable enough that he’s done that, but that he sort of glibly says, well, measles outbreaks occur every year — the point is they don’t have to occur at all, because we’ve shown we could eliminate this disease,” Offit said.
ABC News has reached out to HHS about RFK Jr.’s comments.
The increase in cases and outbreaks over the last few years coincides with decreasing vaccination coverage for measles among kindergarteners nationally from 95.2% during the 2019-2020 school year to 92.7% in the 2023-2024 school year – leaving about 280,000 kindergartners at risk, according to the CDC.
Kennedy, prior to taking his role as HHS secretary, said the measles vaccine is effective at preventing measles, but has also suggested that it’s not necessary because people who die from measles are typically malnourished or have other comorbidities.
“The measles vaccine definitely eliminates measles, or, you know, close to eliminates it,” Kennedy said in 2022.
But he went on to question the deadliness of the disease.
“In 1963, it was killing only 400 kids a year. Mainly, they were kids who had malnutrition, or had some other devastating co-morbidity,” Kennedy said. “Those were the kids who were dying.”
Kennedy has also questioned that the deaths of 83 people – mostly young children – in Samoa in 2019 were caused by measles, despite widespread evidence that the deaths were due to an outbreak of the disease caused by under-vaccination in the American territory.
“Nobody died in Samoa from measles. They were dying from a bad vaccine,” Kennedy told an interviewer last year.
20% of kids with measles in the U.S. require hospitalization, said Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, often for measles pneumonia, measles diarrhea, measles encephalitis or deafness from measles otitis, an ear infection — many of which can be life-threatening conditions.
“This is a bad, bad actor. And I’m really concerned that this thing is continuing to accelerate and expand,” Hotez said Wednesday night in an interview on MSNBC.
Doctors in West Texas have described shock and feaver-treating a disease they thought was something of the past.
“This is the first time I’ve had any professional experience with a measles outbreak,” Dr. Lara Johnson, pediatrician and Chief Medical Officer at Covenant Children’s and Covenant Health in Lubbock, who is currently treating measles patients from the outbreak in West Texas, told ABC news.
“I saw one travel-related case when I was in medical school, very briefly, but at that time, back in around 2000, we really thought that we’d eradicated measles from the United States and didn’t have any anticipation of seeing any outbreaks here,” she said.
The outbreak in Texas is a prime example of the risk posed to unvaccinated communities. Vaccine exemptions among children in Gaines County, the epicenter of the outbreak, have grown dramatically in the past few years. Roughly 7.5% of kindergarteners had filed an exemption for at least one vaccine in 2013. 10 years later, that number rose to over 17.5% – one of the highest in all of Texas, state health data shows.
As the response to the outbreak in Texas and New Mexico continues, with cases expected to significantly rise, public health experts like Hotez and Offit say they’re watching Kennedy, as leader of the nation’s health department, to encourage swift surveillance and widespread vaccination.
“I want him to say to the American public that there’s a safe way to prevent these outbreaks from happening so that we don’t have the tragedy like what just happened in West Texas,” Offit said. “There’s so much in medicine you don’t know. There’s so much we can’t do. This we know. This we can do.”
(NEW YORK) — The Mediterranean diet — which emphasizes fruits, vegetables, lean proteins and whole grains — has once again topped U.S. News and World Report’s annual ranking of best diets.
The publication on Friday named the diet the best overall diet for the eighth year in a row.
The Mediterranean diet scored a 4.8 out of 5 based on an evaluation of several factors, including nutritional completeness, health risks and benefits, long-term sustainability and evidence-based effectiveness, according to U.S. News and World Report.
The diet also scored the top spot in 11 additional categories in the publication’s annual rankings, including easiest-to-follow, gut health, weight loss and mental health.
The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), which focuses on whole foods and low sodium, was ranked second on the Best Diets list, followed by the Flexitarian, MIND and Mayo diets. All of the top five diets embrace a plant-forward philosophy, minimizing the intake of red meats, processed foods, inflammatory fats, high-sugar foods and sugar-sweetened beverages, rather than enforcing strict rules or banning entire food groups.
If you’re looking to start the Mediterranean diet, here is what you need to know.
What is the Mediterranean diet?
The Mediterranean diet is not one way of eating but a broad term used to describe the eating habits popularized in the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea including Italy, Greece, Morocco, Spain and Lebanon.
The way of eating focuses on the quality of foods consumed rather than focusing on a single nutrient or food group, according to U.S. News and World Report.
Nutrition experts say there’s no one diet that will work for everyone. Certain diets may be more beneficial depending on your circumstances, and some may be harmful depending on your health conditions. Anyone considering changes to their diet should consult with their doctor.
What types of foods are eaten on the Mediterranean diet?
Overall, the diet is mostly plant-based and focuses on healthy fats.
Healthy fats emphasized in the Mediterranean diet include extra virgin olive oil, avocados, nuts, salmon and sardines, according to the American Heart Association.
All types of vegetables and fruits are encouraged on the diet, as are non-meat sources of protein like beans and other legumes.
Fish is encouraged at least twice weekly and other animal proteins like poultry, eggs, cheese and yogurt are encouraged in smaller portions. Red meat consumption is should be limited to a few times a month.
The main source of hydration should be water.
Are any foods prohibited?
No, the Mediterranean diet does not totally eliminate any foods or food groups.
However, it is recommended to limit foods such as butter, processed foods like frozen meals and candy, and refined grains and oils. Fruits are encouraged for dessert over sugary sweets.
U.S. News and World Report describes the diet as leaving “little room for the saturated fat, added sugars and sodium that inundate the standard American diet.”
What are the health benefits?
According to U.S. News and World Report, “People who eat a Mediterranean-style diet have longer lifespans, report a higher quality of life and are less likely to suffer from chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease.”
In a study of over 60,000 people, those who followed the Mediterranean diet more closely had a lower risk of dementia, regardless of genetic risk.
The American Heart Association says the Mediterranean diet can “play a big role” in preventing heart disease and stroke and reducing risk factors like diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Consuming virgin olive oil, in particular, may help the body “remove excess cholesterol from arteries and keep blood vessels open,” according to the AHA.
Citing research, the Mayo Clinic touts the Mediterranean diet as a way to help maintain a healthy weight, improve brain health, increase longevity, support a healthy gut and lower the risk of certain cancers.
Dr. Brent Gawey, a member of the ABC News Medical Unit, contributed to this report.
