Measles, once eliminated in the USA, rises in Texas and New Mexico

Nearly 100 people across Texas and New Mexico have caught measles, state officials said, escalating anxiety over the spread of a potentially life-threatening illness that was declared eliminated in the United States more than two decades ago.

Ninety cases of measles — the majority affecting children under age 17 — were detected in Texas’s South Plains, a sprawling region in the state’s northwest, the Texas Department of State Health Services said Friday. The spread marks a significant jump from the 24 cases reported earlier this month. The DSHS warned that “additional cases are likely to occur in the outbreak area and the surrounding communities.”

The United States had declared measles eliminated in 2000, meaning the disease had not spread domestically for more than 12 months. It credited the achievement to widespread inoculation campaigns after the vaccine became available in 1963.

However, the national vaccination rate for measles has dropped in recent years, particularly during and after the coronavirus pandemic. 

Most cases recorded this year have occurred in people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown, the CDC said.

The disease’s comeback has occurred in tandem with the rise of anti-vaccine rhetoric propagated on social media and among some public officials.

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Source: The Washington Post, 24 February 2025