Officials Warn West Texas Measles Outbreak Could Continue For Another Year

The New York Times (3/21, Rosenbluth) reported that as containment efforts “falter,” the measles outbreak in West Texas is “likely to persist for a year, perhaps even setting back the country’s hard-fought victory over the virus, according to Texas health officials.” Some physicians in West Texas “said in interviews that they had given up hope that a vaccination campaign could end the outbreak.” Katherine Wells, director of public health in Lubbock, said mandates are deeply unpopular in Texas, so the vaccination effort has “been a struggle.” As of Friday, the outbreak had “sickened more than 300 people in Texas since January; 40 have been hospitalized.” In New Mexico, officials have “reported 42 cases and one death. In Oklahoma, there have been four probable measles cases.” Reuters (3/21, Satija, S K) reported measles cases in Texas and New Mexico rose to 351 as of Friday, “an increase of 34 infections” in three days. The number of cases in the two states has already eclipsed last year’s count of 285 infections nationwide, according to CDC data. In addition, the CDC said that, as of Thursday, a total of 378 confirmed measles cases were reported by 18 jurisdictions, but these figures “do not reflect the update from Texas and New Mexico on Friday.” NBC News (3/21, Edwards) reported that nearly all of the Texans “who have gotten sick have been children and teenagers never vaccinated against the virus.” In New Mexico, 20 of the infected people “were ages 18 or older, eight were 4 or younger.” The AP (3/21, Shastri, Pananjady) reported that a “silver lining” of the outbreak is that “more people have received a measles, mumps and rubella vaccination this year in Texas and New Mexico...compared to last year – even if it’s not as high” as health experts would like. Furthermore, “pharmacies across the U.S., especially in Texas, are seeing more demand for MMR shots.”