Some private schools have shut down because of a rapidly escalating measles outbreak in West Texas. Local health departments are overstretched, pausing other important work as they race to limit the spread of this highly contagious virus.
Since the outbreak emerged three weeks ago, the Texas health department has confirmed 90 cases with at least 16 hospitalizations, as of Feb. 21. Most of those infected are under age 18. Officials suspect that nine additional measles cases reported in New Mexico, across the border from the epicenter of the Texas outbreak in Gaines, are linked to the Texas outbreak. Ongoing investigations seek to confirm that connection.
Health officials worry they’re missing cases. Undetected infections bode poorly for communities because doctors and health officials can’t contain transmission if they can’t identify who is infected.
“This is the tip of the iceberg,” said Rekha Lakshmanan, chief strategy officer for The Immunization Partnership in Houston, a nonprofit that advocates for vaccine access. “I think this is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.”
An unknown number of parents may not be taking sick children to clinics where they could be tested, said Katherine Wells, the public health director in Lubbock, Texas. “If your kids are responding to fever reducers and you’re keeping hydrated, some people may keep them at home,” she said.
Most unvaccinated people will contract measles if they’re exposed to the airborne virus, which can linger for up to two hours indoors. Those infected can spread the disease before they have symptoms. Around 1 in 5 people with measles end up hospitalized, 1 in 10 children develop ear infections that can lead to permanent hearing loss, and about 1 in 1,000 children die from respiratory and neurological conditions.
Gaines has a large Mennonite population, which often shuns vaccinations. “We respect everyone’s right to vaccinate or not get vaccinated,” said Albert Pilkington, CEO of the Seminole Hospital District, in the heart of the county, in an interview with Texas Standard. “That’s just what it means to be an American, right?”
Local health officials have been trying to persuade the parents of unvaccinated children to protect their kids by bringing them to pop-up clinics offering measles vaccines.
“Some people who were on the fence, who thought measles wasn’t something their kids would see, are recalculating and coming forward for vaccination,” Wells said.
See here for the previous update. I recognize that under current law, people are able to opt out of getting their children vaccinated. I think such laws are generally harmful and misguided, I think this is a terrible thing to do to your kids, and I cannot say I respect any part of it.
The Associated Press adds some details.
The West Texas cases are concentrated in Gaines County, which has 57 infections, and Terry County, north of Gaines, where there are now 20 confirmed cases.
Dawson County, to the east of Gaines, was new to the count with six. Yoakum County has four and Lubbock, Lynn and Ector counties have a case each.
Texas state health department data shows the vast majority of cases are among people younger than 18: 26 in kids younger than 4 and 51 in kids 5-17 years old. Ten adults have measles and three cases are “pending” an age determination. The Ector County Health Department told the Odessa American its case was in a child too young to be vaccinated.
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In New Mexico, all of the cases are in Lea County, which borders Gaines County in Texas. The state health department has said people may have been exposed at a grocery store, an elementary school, a church, Nor-Lea Hospital and a Walgreens in Hobbs, New Mexico.
That “child too young to be vaccinated”, which is to say a child under the age of about 15 months, is the reason why we need a vaccination rate of 95% or higher, and why I don’t respect anyone’s decision to opt out. That kid’s infection, whatever happens from here – and we all hope and pray all of these children will fully recover – is on all the adults who refused to vaccinate their kids. Your choice doesn’t just affect you. ABC News has more.
Thoughts and prayers.