A fast-moving measles outbreak in northern Texas widened this week, bringing the tally to 58 cases over the past three weeks.

Last week at this time, the South Plains region of Texas had reported 24 cases of the outbreak, with nine individuals requiring hospitalization. By Tuesday, the number of hospitalized patients had decreased to 13.

All but four of the people currently sick had been vaccinated against measles.

Cases are also ticking up in neighboring New Mexico, where eight people have been diagnosed with the viral infection.

The ongoing outbreak in Texas is the state’s largest in nearly 30 years and has been concentrated in what Texas Department of State Health Services spokesperson Lara Anton called a ‘close-knit, undervaccinated’ Mennonite community.

Texas allows incoming students to be exempt from required vaccinations, including the measles vaccine, for reasons of conscience, including religious beliefs. The percentage of children seeking exemptions has risen over the past decade, from 0.76 percent in 2014 to 2.32 percent last year.

The cases are mostly in children five to 17, though the health department has not offered any other details about the patients.

Measles is one of the most contagious infectious diseases. One infected person can spread the infection to 12 to 18 other people in an unvaccinated population. Health officials said that because of its high transmissibility, ‘additional cases are likely to occur in Gaines County and the surrounding communities.

A child with measles (file image). Public health authorities in Texas and New Mexico have so far identified more than two dozen cases of measles

Cold-like symptoms, such as a fever, cough and a runny or blocked nose, are usually the first signal of measles

Most of the cases in Texas are centered in Gaines County, which has reported 45 cases. Terry County to the north has nine cases, while Lubbock and Lynn counties have a case each, and Yoakum County has two. 

Gaines county, with a population of just 21,598, has one of the highest rates of vaccine exemptions in the state and all of the confirmed cases are unvaccinated.

In neighboring Lea County, New Mexico, residents were alerted yesterday to the measles infection of an unvaccinated teenager, as well as the possible exposure of more people in Lovington at a hospital emergency room and sixth grade school gymnasium.

‘The New Mexico youth had no recent travel or exposure to known cases from the Texas outbreak,’ the New Mexico Department of Health said.

Measles is caused by a virus that spreads through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person talks, coughs, or sneezes. Measles virus can stay in the air or on surfaces for up to two hours after an infected person has left the room.

Symptoms typically appear between seven to 14 days after contact with the virus. It can cause a high fever that can be life-threatening, a red rash, cough, fatigue, and watery eyes.

In some cases, the infection can also cause sensitivity to light, pneumonia, and brain swelling.

One in five children who become infected ends up in the hospital, with one in 15 developing serious complications like meningitis or sepsis. 

Health officials have expressed fear over the past year at the rise in popularity of Robert F Kennedy Jr, recently confirmed to head the Department of Health and Human Services

Approximately 5 percent of children with measles may develop pneumonia, which is the most frequent cause of death in young children with measles.

Additionally, around one in a thousand children who contract measles may experience brain swelling, or encephalitis, characterized by brain swelling, leading to convulsions and potential consequences such as deafness or intellectual disability.

For every 1,000 children who get measles, one or two will die from it.

Measles was declared eliminated in 2000 thanks to the highly effective MMR vaccine for measles as well as mumps and rubella. But declining rates of childhood vaccinations in recent years, alongside the rise of the anti-vax movement, has meant outbreaks occur every year. 

Before the vaccine was introduced in 1963, the US saw some 3million to 4million cases per year. Now, it´s usually fewer than 200 a year.

The US saw a rise in measles cases in 2024, including an outbreak in Chicago that sickened more than 60.

Texas law allows children to get an exemption from school vaccines for reasons of conscience, including religious beliefs. The percentage of kids with exemptions has risen over the last decade from 0.76 percent in 2014 to 2.32 percent last year, according to Texas Department of State Health Services data.

Health officials have expressed fear over the past year at the rise in popularity of Robert F Kennedy Jr, recently confirmed to head the Department of Health and Human Services. 

While Mr Kennedy has said he would not revoke authorization for shots that have been proven safe and effective for decades, that promise has not assuaged experts who point to his decades-long crusade against vaccines.