Texas on Friday reported another large jump in measles cases and hospitalizations, leaving the US with more than double the number of measles cases so far this year than it saw in all of 2024.
Other states with active outbreaks – defined as three or more cases – include New Mexico, Kansas, Ohio and Oklahoma. The virus has been spreading in undervaccinated communities, and since February, two unvaccinated people have died from measles-related causes.
The multi-state outbreak confirms health experts’ fears that the virus will take hold in other US communities with low vaccination rates and that the spread could stretch on for a year. The World Health Organization said last week that cases in Mexico were linked to the Texas outbreak.
Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that is airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. It is preventable through vaccination, and in 2000 had been declared eliminated from the US.
The outbreak in Texas began more than two months ago. State health officials said on Friday there were 59 new cases of measles since Tuesday, bringing the total to 481 across 19 counties – most of them in west Texas. The state also logged 14 new hospitalizations, for a total of 56 throughout the outbreak.
More than 65% of the Texas cases are in Gaines county, which has a population of 22,892, and where the virus stated spreading in a close-knit, undervaccinated Mennonite community. The county now has logged 315 cases since late January – just over 1% of the county’s residents.
