Health officials confirmed Friday that a West Texas measles outbreak is quickly growing, with cases doubling to 48. The outbreak started in Gaines County late last month and has since spread to adjacent counties, prompting swift health reactions.
Gaines County is still the center, with 42 cases. Other cases have emerged in Terry, Yoakum, and Lynn counties, and New Mexico’s Lea County has also reported three related cases.
Health officials predict that the outbreak will spread, considering the highly infectious nature of measles.
Alarming as it is, all the infected persons are either unvaccinated or of unknown vaccination status. Most of the cases are among 5- to 17-year-olds, and 13 patients have been hospitalized.
The outbreak highlights increasing fears over decreasing vaccination rates, especially in Gaines County, where 18% of kindergartners were not vaccinated with the MMR vaccine during the 2023-24 school year—one of the highest exemption rates in Texas.
As a response, the local health departments are increasing the number of free vaccination clinics with longer hours to accommodate increased demand. More than 80 people have already received the MMR vaccine in the last week with further outreach underway.
As measles cases have also appeared in several states, such as Alaska, Georgia, and New York, health authorities emphasize the need for vaccination to end more outbreaks.
The CDC continues to urge higher levels of immunization to avoid future outbreaks of the highly contagious disease.