By DEVI SHASTRI
A historic measles outbreak in West Texas is just short of 200 cases, Texas state health officials said Friday, while the number of cases in neighboring New Mexico tripled in a day to 30.
Most of the cases across both states are in people younger than 18 and people who are unvaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status.
Texas health officials identified 39 new infections of the highly contagious disease, bringing the total count in the West Texas outbreak to 198 people since it began in late January. Twenty-three people have been hospitalized so far.
Last week, a school-age child died of measles in Texas, the nation’s first measles death in a decade. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced this week that they were sending a team to Texas to help local public health officials respond to the outbreak.
Across the state border from the epicenter of the outbreak, Lea County, New Mexico, had 10 cases Thursday after health officials confirmed an unvaccinated adult who died without seeking medical care tested positive for measles. The state medical investigator has not announced the official cause of death, but the state health department said Friday it is “measles-related.”
Also Friday, the number of cases in Lea County shot up 30, according to an update on the state health department website. The agency has said it hasn’t been able to prove a clear connection to the Texas outbreak; on Feb. 14, it said a link is “suspected.”
The CDC said Friday it has also confirmed measles cases in Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York City, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Washington.
But the Texas and New Mexico outbreaks make up for most of the nation’s case count.
The rise in measles cases has been a major test for U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist who has questioned the safety of childhood vaccines. Recently, he has stopped short of recommending…
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