Measles in Texas has ‘decreased dramatically,’ but virus continues to spread
The measles outbreak in Texas has slowed “dramatically” in recent weeks, but experts still expect the virus to continue to spread.
“We’re very pleased to see this trend and optimistic about the trend going forward,” said Dr. Varun Shetty, the state’s chief epidemiologist, during a meeting of the state’s Public Health Funding and Policy Committee on Wednesday.
But, Shetty warned, Texas isn’t in the clear yet.
“We do expect to see additional cases in the future,” Shetty said.
So far, there have been 762 confirmed cases in the Texas outbreak. The most impacted group, Shetty said, is school-age children, with 286 cases in those between the ages of 5 and 17. The outbreak started in Gaines County, where more than half of the cases were recorded. There have been four cases identified in Tarrant County, according to Tarrant County Public Health.
Two children have died from measles in the Texas outbreak.
The vast majority of cases — 718 — were in people who are unvaccinated or have unknown vaccine status, Shetty said, adding that this emphasizes “the robust effectiveness of the MMR vaccine.”
The Department of State Health recommends getting two doses of the MMR vaccine as the best protection against serious illness.
Last year, the Star-Telegram reported that fewer Fort Worth-area schoolchildren had received the MMR vaccine, leaving more kids vulnerable to the virus and more schools susceptible to an outbreak. For one in every three Fort Worth area campuses, measles vaccination rates have dipped so low that there would almost certainly be an outbreak of the virus if a child came to school while infected.
