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  • As Texas’s measles outbreak slows, officials warn of rise in other states

    Cases in New Mexico and Kansas give experts reason to be ‘concerned’ in second-worst US measles year since 2000

    The measles outbreak in Texas is showing signs of slowing, though other states are seeing more cases and health officials are warning against complacency as the US continues to experience high rates of measles amid falling vaccination rates.

    It has been a handful of days since anyone in Lubbock, Texas, has tested positive, and there are no known measles hospitalizations at the children’s hospital in the city, which has also cared for children from nearby Gaines county.

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  • World may be ‘post-herd immunity’ to measles, top US scientist says

    As infections pummel communities in the US, Mexico and Canada, fear of ‘the most contagious human disease’ grows

    A leading immunologist warned of a “post-herd-immunity world”, as measles outbreaks affect communities with low vaccination rates in the American south-west, Mexico and Canada.

    The US is enduring the largest measles outbreak in a quarter-century. Centered in west Texas, the measles outbreak has killed two unvaccinated children and one adult and spread to neighboring states including New Mexico and Oklahoma.

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  • With over 900 US measles cases so far this year, things are looking bleak

    As of Friday, April 25, the US has confirmed over 900 measles cases since the start of the year. The cases are across 29 states, but most are in or near Texas, where a massive outbreak continues to mushroom in close-knit, undervaccinated communities.

    On April 24, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had tallied 884 cases across the country. Today, the Texas health department updated its outbreak total, adding 22 cases to its last count from Tuesday. That brings the national total to at least 906 confirmed cases. Most of the cases are in unvaccinated children and teens.

    Overall, Texas has identified 664 cases since late January. Of those, 64 patients have been hospitalized, and two unvaccinated school-aged children with no underlying medical conditions have died of the disease. An unvaccinated adult in New Mexico also died from the infection, bringing this year’s measles death toll to three.

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  • Each measles case in raging outbreak costs up to $50,000, CDC official says

    In now-rarified comments from experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency official on Tuesday evening said the explosive measles outbreak mushrooming out of West Texas will require “significant financial resources” to control and that the agency is already struggling to keep up.

    “We are scrapping to find the resources and personnel needed to provide support to Texas and other jurisdictions,” said David Sugerman, the CDC’s lead on its measles team. The agency has been devastated by brutal cuts to CDC staff and funding, including a clawback of more than $11 billion in public health funds that largely went to state health departments.

    Sugerman noted that the response to measles outbreaks is generally expensive. “The estimates are that each measles cases can be $30,000 to $50,000 for public health response work—and that adds up quite quickly.” The costs go to various responses, including on-the-ground response teams, vaccine doses and vaccination clinics, case reporting, contact tracing, mitigation plans, infection prevention, data systems, and other technical assistance to state health departments.

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  • Second child reportedly dies of measles in Texas amid growing outbreak

    US health and human services department confirmed death but insisted the exact cause is under investigation

    A second child with measles has reportedly died in Texas amid a steadily growing outbreak that has infected nearly 500 people in that state alone.

    The US health and human services department confirmed the death to NBC late Saturday, though the agency insisted exactly why the child died remained under investigation. On Sunday, the New York Times reported that the eight-year-old girl had died from “measles pulmonary failure” early Thursday at a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, citing records obtained by the outlet.

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  • Nearly 500 confirmed cases of measles across 19 US states, says CDC

    Government reports largest outbreak is in Texas, and 70 people across US needing hospitalization

    The federal government reported on Friday that there have been 483 confirmed cases of measles across 20 US jurisdictions so far this year, with the largest outbreak in Texas, and 70 people across the nation needing to be hospitalized.

    That compares with 285 cases of measles in the US for the whole of 2024. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on its website that 97% of the confirmed cases this year so far involved people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccine status was unknown – and 75% of the cases this year have affected people under the age of 19.

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  • Measles quickly spreading in Kansas counties with alarmingly low vaccination

    An eruption of measles is spreading quickly in Kansas, with cases doubling in a week and spreading to three new counties, some with vaccination coverage among kindergartners at pitiful levels as low as 41 percent. Coverage of 95 percent or greater is thought to protect communities from onward spread of the extremely contagious virus.

    In an update Wednesday, March 26, Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) reported 23 measles cases across six counties—up from 10 cases across three counties on March 21. The 23 people ill with the dangerous virus are mostly children, including six who are 0 to 4 years old, nine who are 5 to 10, three who are 11 to 13, three who are 14 to 17, and two adults between the ages of 25 and 44. Fortunately, none of the cases have been hospitalized so far, and there have been no deaths.

    Twenty of the 23 cases were unvaccinated. One case was “not age appropriately vaccinated,” one was “age appropriately vaccinated,” and the remaining case’s vaccination status is pending.

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  • Measles arrives in Kansas, spreads quickly in undervaccinated counties

    Measles has arrived in Kansas and is spreading swiftly in communities with very low vaccination rates. Since last week, the state has tallied 10 cases across three counties with more pending.

    On March 13, health officials announced the state’s first measles case since 2018. The case was reported in Stevens County, which sits in the southwest corner of the state. As of now, it’s unclear if the case is connected to the mushrooming outbreak that began in West Texas.

    That initial case in Kansas already shows potential to mushroom on its own. Stevens County contains two school districts, both of which have extremely low vaccination rates among kindergartners. By the time children enter kindergarten, they should have their two doses of Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine, which together are 97 percent effective against measles. In the 2023–2024 school year, rates of kindergartners with their two shots stood at 83 percent in the Hugoton school district and 80 percent in the Moscow school district, according to state data. Those rates are significantly below the 95 percent threshold needed to block the onward community spread of measles—one of the most infectious viruses known to humankind.

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  • Mom of child dead from measles: “Don’t do the shots,” my other 4 kids were fine

    The parents of an unvaccinated 6-year-old girl who died of measles in Texas last month sat down for an interview with Children’s Health Defense (CHD), the rabid anti-vaccine organization founded and run until recently by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is now US health secretary under the Trump administration.

    The child’s vaccine-preventable death marked the first measles fatality in the US in a decade. It’s a tragedy that stands as a dark reminder of the dangers of the disease—one of the most infectious known to humankind—and the importance of the lifesaving vaccinations. But, in the interview, CHD wielded the loss of the young child as a means to downplay the deadly disease, attack the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella vaccine, tout unproven treatments, and spread misinformation.

    Preventable death

    The video interview, which was posted Monday, begins with the grieving parents, who are Mennonites, recounting their daughter’s decline amid sobs: She came down with measles, developed the telltale rash, and then her fever kept climbing, and her breathing worsened. They took her to the emergency room and she was admitted to the hospital. Doctors found she had developed pneumonia, a known complication of measles that strikes about 1 in 20 children infected and is the most common cause of measles deaths in young children. Her condition deteriorated, she was moved to the intensive care unit, intubated, but continued to decline and died.

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  • Texas measles outbreak spills into third state as cases reach 258

    Two people in Oklahoma have likely contracted measles infections linked to a mushrooming outbreak that began in West Texas, which has now risen to at least 258 cases since late January.

    On Tuesday, Oklahoma’s health department reported that two people had “exposure associated with the Texas and New Mexico outbreak” and then reported symptoms consistent with measles. They’re currently being reported as probable cases because testing hasn’t confirmed the infections.

    There was no information about the ages, vaccination status, or location of the two cases. The health department said that the people stayed home in quarantine after realizing they had been exposed. In response to local media, a health department spokesperson said it was withholding further information because “these cases don’t pose a public health risk and to protect patient privacy.”

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