Santa Fe, NM – The public health authorities said on Tuesday that a measles outbreak has expanded in western Texas, while a new case was confirmed near the state lines in New Mexico.
The Health Services of the Texas State Department has identified 24 measles cases in relation to the start of symptoms in the last two weeks. Gaines County, a small county in western Texas, has one of the highest rates of vaccine exemptions In the state.
In the neighboring neighbor of Lea, New Mexico, the residents were alerted Tuesday about the measles infection of a non -vaccinated teenager, as well as the possible exhibition of more people in Lovington in an emergency room of the hospital and a sixth school gymnasium degree.
“New Mexico’s young people did not have recent trips or exhibition to known cases of the Texas outbreak,” said New Mexico’s Department of Health in a press release.
Nine of the patients with measles in Texas have been hospitalized. All of the Confirmed cases in Gaines County Involve not vaccinated residents.
Measles is a highly contagious virus that can survive in the air for up to two hours. Up to 9 out of 10 people who are susceptible will obtain the virus if they are exposed, According to the US disease control and prevention centers. Before the vaccine is introduced in 1963, the United States saw between 3 million to 4 million cases per year. Now, it is generally less than 200 in a normal year.
Local health officials in Gaines County established a entrance vaccination clinic last week and offer resident detection services. The New Mexico Department of Health announced a vaccination clinic without aim at Hobbs, starting next week.
The United States saw An increase in measles cases in 2024Including an outbreak in Chicago that ill more than 60.
Texas Law allows children to obtain an exemption from school vaccines for reasons of conscience, including religious beliefs. The percentage of children with exemptions has increased in the last decade of 0.76% in 2014 to 2.32% last year, according to Health Services of the Texas Department of Health.
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