NBC News
Louisiana, Missouri and Virginia have registered their first measles cases in 2025 and at least three patients are related to international trips.
The most recent case announced in the northwest of Virginia is that of a child between 0 and 4 years old who recently traveled abroad, according to the State Health Department. It was not clarified if the child was vaccinated against the virus.
“The first case of measles in Virginia this year is a reminder of how easily this highly contagious disease can be spread, particularly with international trips,” said state epidemiologist Laurie Forlano. “Vaccination remains our best defense against measles and is safe and very effective in protecting people and preventing outbreaks.”
Two permanent Kaiser medical centers in Woodbridge and Fredericksburg were identified by the Department of Health of Virginia as areas of possible exposure, and the authorities are working to help identify people exposed to the disease.
The case of Louisiana is that of an adult from the southeast of the state who was not vaccinated against measles, according to the Department of Health. The patient received treatment in a hospital and is isolated until he is no longer infectious.
“The LDH Public Health Office is working to identify and notify people who have been in contact with the infected individual,” said the department.
The Missouri case involves a child “linked to recent international trips” and who visited Taney County, said the Department of Health and Services for the Elderly of the State. The age of the child is not clear, or if it was vaccinated.
“There are no signs of generalized exposure, since this person was diagnosed shortly after his arrival in Taney County,” said the department in an update. “It is believed that exposure is limited, and known contacts have been identified and informed.”
These cases occur in the midst of the biggest measles outbreak to which the United States has faced in six years. Despite the rebound, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have maintained relative silence about the threat to public health, offering only weekly updates on their website and sending an alert to doctors in March.
At the beginning of April, the State Department of Texas Health Services reported that the number of confirmed measles cases in the state amounted to 481, including six young children in a nursery in Lubbock. Since the disease began to spread at the end of January, 56 people have been hospitalized in the area.
The CDC sent 2,000 doses of the measles vaccine, paperas and rubella, or viral triple to the health authorities of Texas, at the request of the officials, but they have not performed an informative session on the disease since 2019, when two great outbreaks in New York threatened to reverse the status of the United States of having eliminated the virus.
Before 2025, the country had not reported a measles death in a decade and no child had died from the virus since 2003.
