The measles outbreak recorded in western Texas has doubled its size until it reaches 48 cases, mainly in children and adolescents, becoming the worst outbreak of the state in almost 30 years.
State health officials said in a press release that those who are infected are not vaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown. Thirteen people have been hospitalized.
Cases have concentrated on a Mennonite community “Very united and with a low vaccination rate”said Lara Anton, the spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services of the State of Texas. Gaines County is highly rural, so many families send their children to small private schools or educate them at home, added Anton.
The Church is not the reason why they are not vaccinated, ”said Anton. “It’s a personal choice and you can do whatever you want. It is simply that the community does not come to receive regular medical care. ”
Anton said the State is working with local health officials for Increase detection and vaccination efforts. Health officials are also working to educate schools responsible for how to identify measles symptoms and encourage families to vaccinate their children.
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The outbreak is located in a scarcely populated area of the Rural Texas, near the border with New Mexico, and has spread from its epicenter in Gaines County to include cases in Lynn, Terry and Yoakum counties.
A case was recorded in Lea County, in New Mexico, where residents were informed about a case of measles in a non -vaccinated teenager. The New Mexico Department of Health said that the adolescent had not recently traveled or exposed to known cases of the Texas outbreak.
The data of the Texas State Health Services Department shows that 49 were recorded measles cases In Texas in 1996. In 2013, 27 cases were reported after a person who traveled to Asia returned and interacted with a community reluctant to vaccination, the state reported.
Measles is a highly contagious virus that can survive in the air up to two hours. Up to nine out of 10 people who are susceptible will contract the virus if they are exposedaccording to the centers for disease control and prevention. Before the vaccine was introduced in 1963, the United States registered between 3 million and 4 million cases per year. Now, they are usually less than 200 in a normal year.
The United States saw an increase in measles cases in 2024, including an outbreak in Chicago that ill to more than 60 people.
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Measles vaccination, which consists of a two -injections scheme, is mandatory for most Kindergarten children in the United States so that they can enroll in public schools.
Texas Law allows children to obtain an exemption from school vaccines for reasons of conscience, including religious beliefs. The percentage of children with exemptions has increased in the last decade, from 0.76% in 2014 to 2.32% last year, according to state data.
Gaines County has one of the highest rates of Texas of school -age children who choose not to receive at least one mandatory vaccineand in the 2023-24 school year about 14% of children in the state’s primary schools were not vaccinated. Health officials say that this number is probably greater because it does not include many children who are educated at home and whose data would not be reported.
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