United States: Texas and New Mexico health agencies reported a 20% increase in measles cases since their last release three days ago, while experts predict continued growth until future weeks.
More about the news
The Texas Department of State Health Services reports 400 measles cases exist throughout the state, while Gaines County holds 270 of these reports.
Since the outbreak started, Texas medical officials have confirmed two death cases associated with measles. New Mexico identified another case of measles that reached a total of 44.
The Texas cases of measles have reportedly caused additional outbreaks in the states of Kansas and Oklahoma.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows 483 confirmed measles cases through March 27, according to data that they reported one day later than Texas and New Mexico.
Medical experts confirmed additional cases of the outbreak were certain to appear despite the uncertainty about how fast the outbreak would gain momentum.
As of the current reporting year, 2024 has already surpassed the total reported cases of measles in the entire year of 2023 within the United States.
What are the experts stating?
According to Dr. Sapna Singh, chief medical officer for Texas Children’s Pediatrics, the worry is that cases are “still continuing active spread in those areas of outbreak that we’re not even catching.” Reuters reported.
Experts state the US population risk exposure to extremely infectious measles due to decreased vaccination rates.
Medical professionals declared the United States had eliminated the disease as a health threat during the year 2000.
The vaccination rates have declined because measles protection levels now fall below 95% for herd immunity in the Texas county where outbreaks started.
As per Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, “When you’re in a population that has low vaccination rates, and you’re dealing with a virus like measles, the general consensus is that this is going to take some time to quench and it’s going to continue to spread rapidly until that virus runs out of people to infect,” Reuters reported.