‘Additional cases are likely to occur in the outbreak area and the surrounding communities,’ state health officials warn.
A outbreak of measles cases in western Texas has grown to 90 cases since last month, according to new data released on Friday by state health officials.
Sixteen of the patients were hospitalized and no deaths were reported, the Texas Department of Health and Human Services said, adding that five of the cases involved individuals who received the measles vaccine. The remainder were not vaccinated or their status is not known, officials said.
“Due to the highly contagious nature of this disease, additional cases are likely to occur in the outbreak area and the surrounding communities,” the agency said.
The majority of the cases, or 57, were located in Gaines County, while 20 cases were reported in Terry County. Six were reported in Dawson, four in Yoakum, one in Ector, one in Lynn, and one in Lubbock counties, officials said.
Twenty-six measles cases occurred in children aged 4 and under, while 51 were confirmed in children aged 5 to 17, officials said. Ten cases were reported in everyone else and three were marked as “pending” by state health officials.
In neighboring eastern New Mexico, the measles case count is up to nine, though state public health officials said on Thursday that there’s still no evidence this outbreak is connected to the one in Texas.
Texas health officials have said this outbreak is the state’s largest in nearly 30 years. Health department spokeswoman Lara Anton said last week that cases have been concentrated in a Mennonite community and namely among families who attend small private religious schools or are homeschooled.
Gaines County has one of the highest rates in Texas of school-aged children who opt out of at least one required vaccine, with nearly 14 percent of K–12 children in the 2023–2024 school year, health officials have said. That number is likely higher because it doesn’t include many children who are homeschooled and whose data would not be reported, officials also said.
