Texas Announces the End of Measles Outbreak

Officials were able to declare an end to the outbreak after no new cases for at least 42 days.

State health officials have declared an end to the measles outbreak that sickened at least 762 people in West Texas. Two unvaccinated school-age children died of the virus.

The Texas Department of State Health Services announced on Monday that more than 42 days had passed without a new measles case being reported in counties that had been experiencing growing transmission since the end of January.

Public health officials consider a measles outbreak to be over after 42 days with no new cases. That period is double the disease’s maximum incubation time — the longest period it can take from exposure until illness.

“As far as we can tell based on available data, the outbreak has really ended in Texas,” says Amy Edwards, MD, an infectious disease expert at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland.

“Still, I would expect outbreaks like this to happen with increasing frequency in the future, as more parents may opt to forgo childhood vaccination,” says Dr. Edwards, who also serves as an associate professor in the department of pediatrics at the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine.

Children, especially those who are not immunized, account for almost two-thirds of all cases in the United States. The measles virus spreads rapidly and can lead to life-threatening illness. About 21 percent of children younger than 5 who get the measles require hospitalization.

Measles Has Not Disappeared

Even though the West Texas outbreak has ended, measles continue to cause illness in other parts of the country.

In neighboring New Mexico, where measles cases from West Texas spilled over, three new cases in unvaccinated individuals were reported in Sante Fe County last week, bringing the total number of cases in that state’s ongoing outbreak to at least 100.

Cases are also popping up in other parts of the country. In mid-August, New Jersey health officials warned residents about potential measles exposure after identifying an infected individual who was visiting the state.

Also this month, Colorado confirmed a measles case in an adult who had not received the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

The most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that 1,375 people have been confirmed to have measles nationwide this year in 41 states, making this one of the largest measles tallies in over three decades.

Measles cases are also up in other countries. Israel has had more than 500 cases in the past three months, mostly among unvaccinated children; last week an unvaccinated 18-month-old child died of the virus.

Protection Against a Measles Resurgence

While the end of the West Texas outbreak is encouraging, William Schaffner, MD, an infectious-disease specialist and a professor of preventive medicine and health policy at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, warns that trouble could still be on the horizon.

“This is a time of year when measles can tend to be low, in part because children are out of school,” he says. “Now that kids are heading back to class, we will see if there are areas where the measles have been smoldering, and if there may be a burst of transmission.”

Vaccination programs in the United States have kept measles from becoming an epidemic, but outbreaks could grow bigger in the future if the population doesn’t keep up with immunizations on a large scale, Dr. Schaffner says.

“The vaccine is brilliantly effective,” he says. “If you get the appropriate two doses, it can give you lifetime protection. It’s also been used by millions of people around the globe, proving to be extremely safe.”

Menu