Texas measles outbreak grows to 90 cases, largest in over 30 years
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(AUSTIN, Texas) — The number of measles cases linked to an outbreak in western Texas has grown to 90, according to new data released on Friday.
Almost all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, and 16 people have been hospitalized so far, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Five cases included those who have been vaccinated.
A DSHS spokesperson previously told ABC News that this marks the largest measles outbreak in the state in more than 30 years.
Children and teenagers between ages 5 and 17 make up the majority of cases with 51, followed by 26 cases among children ages 4 and under.
Gaines County is the epicenter of the outbreak, with 57 cases confirmed among residents, according to DSHS. State health data shows the number of vaccine exemptions in the county have grown dramatically.
Roughly 7.5% of kindergarteners had parents or guardians who filed for an exemption for at least one vaccine in 2013. Ten years later, that number rose to more than 17.5% — one of the highest in all of Texas, according to state health data.
Meanwhile, in neighboring New Mexico, at least nine cases have been confirmed in Lea County, which borders Texas, a spokesperson for the state Department of Health told ABC News on Friday.
Similarly to the local outbreaks, all of the nationally confirmed cases are in people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown.
Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known to humans. Just one infected patient can spread measles up to nine out of 10 susceptible close contacts, according to the CDC.
Health officials have been urging anyone who isn’t vaccinated to receive the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) shot.
The CDC currently recommends people receive two vaccine doses, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective.
(WASHINGTON) — Measles vaccination rates appear to be increasing in some areas of the U.S. that have been affected by outbreaks this year.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently recommends that people receive two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine — the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective, the CDC says.
Of the 378 measles cases confirmed by the CDC so far this year, the majority have been among those who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown.
In western Texas, an outbreak has infected 327 people, according to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). Of those cases, just two have been among people fully vaccinated with the MMR vaccine.
Health officials have been urging anyone who isn’t vaccinated to receive the MMR vaccine or to catch up on missed doses.
In Texas, as of March 16, at least 173,362 MMR vaccine doses have been administered across the state this year, according to DSHS data provided to ABC News.
This is higher than the number of doses administered in the state over the same period since at least 2020.
A DSHS spokesperson told ABC News that because there is no statewide requirement to report vaccine administration, the data is not a comprehensive accounting of all MMR vaccines administered in the state.
Lubbock County, in western Texas, has seen 10 measles cases so far this year, DSHS data shows. Despite not being at the epicenter of the outbreak, the number of people being vaccinated has increased, according to Katherine Wells, director of public health for the city of Lubbock.
“We’re 75 miles east of the actual outbreak, but we’re seeing an increase in the number of vaccinations that we’re giving in our community,” she told ABC News. “Over the last four weeks, our health department has been operating a walk-in vaccine clinic that’s just for MMR, and that vaccine clinic [has] administered a little over 300 vaccines.”
She added that health officials have seen multiple babies under 6 months old who have been exposed to measles. Because they are too young to be vaccinated, they have been given shots of immunoglobulin, which are antibodies that act as a post-exposure prophylaxis.
Wells said the vaccines are available at no cost, and health officials have been trying to spread the word over social media and the local news.
“So we’re kind of just getting the people that, I think, either their children are behind on vaccines, just because parents get busy and it’s hard to get your four-year-old sometimes into the doctor’s office, or people that were kind of on the fence about vaccines and maybe said, ‘Well, I don’t want to vaccinate my kids, because you never see measles.’ But now that you’re seeing measles, they’re bringing their children in for vaccinations,” she said.
In conversations with colleagues in nearby health departments, such as in epicenter Gaines County, Wells has said it’s been harder to reach residents to distribute the MMR vaccine, making the process somewhat of a “struggle.”
She explained that in Lubbock, the health department building is large — with most residents knowing where it is — and the department has more outreach staff than smaller departments.
“I think it’s a little bit harder in some of these rural areas, because they’re setting up in places that might not be as familiar to individuals,” Wells said. “They’re finding different locations in order to have those clinics; they’re starting to focus a lot more on school-based clinics. So, let’s go to where the children are and get the parents to come to that school and then offer the vaccine there, which I think is a great tactic.”
Meanwhile, in nearby New Mexico, the state Department of Health (NMDOH) reported a total of 43 measles cases so far this year. Most of the cases have been confirmed in Lea County, which borders western Texas.
Health officials suspect there may be a connection between the Texas and New Mexico cases, but a link has not yet been confirmed.
Data from NMDOH provided to ABC News shows that between Feb. 1 and March 24 of this year, more than 13,100 MMR doses have been administered. Of those, about 7,000 doses have been administered among those under age 18 and about 6,100 have been administered among adults.
This is more than the double the number of MMR vaccine doses that were administered over the same period last year, according to Robert Nott, communications director for the NMDOH. The vaccines are being administered at no charge.
“We’re encouraged by the number of people getting vaccinated but we’re not taking it for granted,” Nott told ABC News. “You can see nationwide: measles is highly contagious.”
Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known to humans. Just one infected patient can spread measles to up to nine out of 10 susceptible close contacts, according to the CDC.
The measles virus can linger in the air and live on surfaces for up to two hours after an infected person has left a room, the CDC says.
Wells, from Lubbock, said during a press briefing last week that it could take up to a year to gain control over the outbreak.
“Our number of cases are continuing to increase daily. There [are] also still cases that are unreported or under-reported because people aren’t seeking testing,” she told ABC News. “So, I still think we’re on the growth side of this outbreak, and it’s going to be until we get a significant number of vaccines and really be able to identify all of those cases. So, it’ll take both of those things happening before we can get this under control.”
(NEW YORK) — More than 1 million children may have been affected by long COVID in 2023, new federal data published Monday suggests.
Long COVID, a condition that occurs when patients still have symptoms at least three months after clearing infection, has been well-documented in adults, but its impact on children has been less clear.
Researchers from two divisions within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at results from the 2023 National Health Interview Survey, a nationwide survey that monitors the health of the U.S. population.
One child aged 17 or under was randomly selected from each sample household within the survey, and parents responded to questions about whether their child had previous COVID-19 illness, if the child had symptoms lasting three months or longer and if the child still had those symptoms at the time of interview.
Results of the analysis, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, showed approximately 1.01 million children, or 1.4%, are believed to have ever experienced long COVID in 2023 and about 293,000, or 0.4%, were experiencing the condition when the survey was being conducted.
This is similar to the 1.3%, or about 1 million, of children ever estimated to have had long COVID in 2022, according to the authors.
Children between ages 12 and 17 were most likely to have ever experienced long COVID or to still have the condition. Long COVID prevalence was also higher among Hispanic and non-Hispanic white children compared to non-Hispanic Black and Asian children.
Long COVID was also most common among children with a family income of under $100,000 and of parents with an education level of an associate’s degree or less.
Among children currently experiencing long COVID at the time of interview, 80% reported to have some level of activity limitation compared with before they had COVID-19.
“The large proportion of children experiencing [long COVID] with any activity limitation highlights the need to examine the severity of activity limitation, functional outcomes, and days lost from school,” the authors wrote.
The authors said there may be an under-reporting of long COVID in younger children due to difficulty with the verbalization of their symptoms.
Long COVID most often occurs in people who had severe illness, but anyone can develop the condition, according to the CDC. People who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 are at higher risk of developing long COVID, the agency says.
Scientists are not sure what causes long COVID but have identified risk factors including having underlying conditions.
(NEW YORK) — As measles cases continue to spread across the United States, many Americans may be asking themselves if they need a measles vaccine booster to enhance protection.
An outbreak in western Texas has grown to 279 cases, mostly among those who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown. Meanwhile, an outbreak in nearby New Mexico has also increased, reaching 38 cases as of Wednesday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently recommends that people receive two vaccine doses, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective, the CDC says.
Most vaccinated adults don’t need another vaccine dose, said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He also said it’s important to call another shot of the MMR vaccine “a dose” as opposed to a “booster.”
He explained that the measles vaccine used to be a single-dose vaccine before a second dose was recommended in the late 1980s.
“In the late ’80s, there were sort of big outbreaks of measles,” Offit told ABC News. “But if you looked at the epidemiology of those outbreaks, it was in people who never got a vaccine.”
He went on, “So it wasn’t that the immunity faded, that the vaccine wasn’t good enough. It’s an excellent vaccine as a single-dose vaccine. The problem was people didn’t get it. So, the second dose recommendation really was to give children a second chance to get a first dose.”
Depending on the year you were born
If someone was born before 1957, they are presumed to have life-long immunity against measles, Offit said.
Before the MMR vaccine was available, nearly everyone was infected with measles, mumps and rubella during childhood, according to the CDC.
Those with a confirmed laboratory diagnosis of measles are protected from the virus, the agency adds.
In 1963, the first measles vaccine became available, followed by an improved vaccine in 1968, said Dr. Gregory Poland, a vaccinologist and co-director of The Atria Research Institute — which focuses on disease prevention.
A very small number of people, representing less than 5% of Americans, may have received the inactivated measles vaccine from 1963 through 1967 during childhood, which may not have offered sufficient protection against the virus. These people would be eligible for re-vaccination with one or two doses, the CDC says.
“So, the first measles vaccine licensed in the U.S. was in 1963 and it was an inactivated vaccine,” he told ABC News. “That inactivated vaccine had two consequences to it. One, it did not produce protective immunity and, number two, it led to — when people did get exposed and infected — it led to atypical measles, and that can be very severe.”
Poland said, at the time, there was also a live attenuated measles vaccine, similar to what is used today “but it was not very attenuated or weakened, and so it caused a lot of side effects.”
He explained that to decrease side effects, physicians would give a patient a vaccine and then a shot of immunoglobulin, or antibodies. While this decreased side effects, it also tended to kill the vaccine virus, not giving people adequate immunity.
For those who were vaccinated with the single-dose vaccine similar to the one used today — or received the MMR vaccine — Offit said another dose is likely not needed.
In 1989, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians recommended children receive a second MMR dose.
Offit and Poland said anyone who has received two doses of the MMR vaccine does not need to receive another dose.
If someone is unsure if they are immune to measles, they should first try to find their vaccination records. If they cannot find written documentation, there is generally no harm in receiving another dose of the MMR vaccine, according to the CDC. A health care provider can also test blood to determine whether someone is immune, but this is generally not recommended.
In the face of the growing measles outbreak, the CDC issued an alert on March 7 saying parents in the outbreak area should consider getting their children an early third dose of the MMR vaccine.
Texas health officials have also recommended early vaccination for infants living in outbreak areas.
This would result in three doses overall: an early dose between age 6 months and 11 months and then the two regularly scheduled doses.
Poland says it’s important to note that this dose is only for infants living in high-risk areas or going to visit high-risk areas and not recommended for most children.
“Generally, the reason we don’t give [the vaccine] at an early age is that, if the mother was immunized or had disease, the antibodies that she has are passed through the placenta to the baby — those last around 12 months,” he said. “If you give the vaccine prior to that, then some amount of that live virus vaccine will be killed by the mother’s antibodies circulating in the baby, and so it’s not long-lasting, high-titer immunity.”
