Ongoing outbreak
The current outbreak in Texas also involves a close-knit religious community—Mennonites—that has largely eschewed vaccination. The outbreak began in late January in Gaines County, which sits at the border with New Mexico. The county is one of the least vaccinated in the state, with coverage among kindergartners in the previous school year at just about 82 percent. That’s significantly below the 95 percent threshold considered needed to prevent vaccine-preventable diseases from spreading in a community.
Since the outbreak began in Gaines, cases have risen to 124, now scattered across a total of nine Texas counties. There are also nine cases across the border from Gaines in New Mexico’s Lea County. It remains unclear how cases spread to the state.
Of the 124 cases in Texas, 101 are in children, including 39 in children aged 0 to 4, some of whom may be too young to vaccinate. All but five of the 124 cases were unvaccinated. The CDC recommends all children get two doses of Measles, Mumps, and Rubella vaccine (MMR), one at 12 to 15 months of age and the second between the ages of 4 and 6. One dose is considered 93 percent effective at preventing measles, and two are considered 97 percent effective.
Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known. The virus travels through the air and can linger in the airspace of a room for up to two hours after an infected person has been present. Among unvaccinated people exposed to the virus, 90 percent will become infected.
In the US, about 20 percent of people with measles are typically hospitalized. Five percent develop pneumonia, and up to 3 in 1,000 die of the infection. Later in life, measles can also cause a fatal disease of the central nervous system called Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis. And the virus can erase immune responses to other infections (a phenomenon known as immune amnesia), making people vulnerable to various illnesses.
