A measles outbreak is affecting school-aged children in Texas and several of those patients have been hospitalized.
According to Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) officials the outbreak is happening in Gaines County, Fox News reported on Monday.
Texas confirms growing measles outbreak affecting school-aged children https://t.co/KlelCXnyfD
— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 10, 2025
Out of the 10 cases, all of whom are unvaccinated, eight of those patients are children and two of those are under age five.
The DSHS website details how measles is transmitted between persons:
Measles is a highly contagious virus that lives in the nose and throat mucus of an infected person. When that person sneezes or coughs, droplets spray into the air and can infect people around him. Measles is so contagious that if one person has it, 90% of the people close to that person who are not immune will also become infected with the measles virus. Also, measles virus can live for up to two hours in an airspace where the infected person coughed or sneezed. If other people breath the contaminated air or touch the infected surface, then touch their eyes, noses, or mouths, they can become infected.
The symptoms present with a mild to moderate fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes, and sore throat. A few days after these initial symptoms appear “tiny white spots (Koplik’s spots) may appear inside the mouth,” the site noted, adding days later the patient will have a red or brown-colored rash beginning on the face or hairline and resulting in a possible spike in fever.
Per the Fox report, the rise in measles cases is happening after health agencies reported the illness was eliminated in 2000.
Texas authorities noted that people are likely to experience more cases in Gaines County and the surrounding areas.
“Vaccination is the best way for people to avoid infection from measles and other preventable diseases, the advisory said,” the Fox article continued.
In April, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) urged people to get vaccinated as measles cases rose across the nation, Breitbart News reported at the time.
The following month, a CDC report “linked 84 percent of Chicago’s recent cases of measles back to the wave of illegal aliens from Venezuela,” the outlet said.
