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A severe measles outbreak has hit the South Plains region of Texas and eastern New Mexico, with health officials warning that hundreds more could be infected. As of Tuesday, Texas reported 58 cases — with 45 concentrated in Gaines County — while New Mexico confirmed eight cases.
The Texas Department of State Health Services reports that 13 people have been hospitalized. While four infected individuals were vaccinated, most cases involve unvaccinated people or those with unknown vaccination status. In New Mexico, six of the eight cases are among unvaccinated individuals.
This marks Texas’s worst measles outbreak in nearly three decades. The last comparable outbreak occurred in 1996, when 49 people were infected, according to Associated Press.
The situation in Gaines County is particularly concerning. CNN reports that approximately 20% of incoming kindergartners there didn’t receive their measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine for the 2023-24 school year.
Health officials estimate 200 to 300 people may already be infected but haven’t been tested.
The virus is remarkably contagious. It spreads through direct contact and can remain infectious in the air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves a space. About 90% of unvaccinated people exposed to measles will contract the disease.
Before the MMR vaccine’s introduction in 1963, measles infected 3-4 million Americans annually, with 48,000 requiring hospitalization. Since 2000, annual U.S. cases have ranged from 37 to 1,282, with the highest number recorded in 2019, primarily in New York.
The CDC notes that infected individuals are contagious from four days before until four days after developing the characteristic rash — though immunocompromised patients don’t always show this symptom. The disease can also cause “immune amnesia,” weakening the body’s defenses against other illnesses.
This outbreak coincides with widespread terminations at federal health agencies. Hundreds of staff members across the Department of Health and Human Services — including the FDA, NIH, and CDC — received termination notices this weekend under Trump administration orders. These dismissals come as a delayed CDC study suggests undetected bird flu variants are spreading among humans.
