Measles has been confirmed among Los Angeles County residents who have recently returned from Texas, the state, who is in the midst of a highly infectious disease outbreak, said Friday.
The outbreak in Texas is one of the worst seen in the US in the worst years, claiming the lives of two school-age children who were not vaccinated and had no underlying medical conditions, according to a report released Thursday at the US Center for Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports at the US Center for Disease Management.
This is the third measles incident reported so far this year by the LA County Public Health. In March, a county resident tested positive for a recent trip to Los Angeles International Airport on a China Airlines flight from Taipei, Taiwan. And in February, cases were reported in a non-LA county residents who arrived on a Korean Air flight from Seoul.
“Travelers were not contagious during their trip,” the county public health department said in a statement on Friday regarding the latest incident.
Authorities are working to identify people who may have been exposed while the infected person was transmitted to the virus.
Symptoms of measles include high fevers above 101 degrees, cough, runny nose, red and watery eyes, and rashes. This usually starts from the face and spreads over the rest of the body.
Measles can easily spread through the air and can be present in the air for hours on the surface, even after the infected person has left the room.
According to the CDC, people can spread measles to others four days before the disease’s fine rash appears four days later. People who have not been vaccinated against measles through vaccination or prior infection are at risk of becoming ill seven to 21 days after exposure.
Two doses of the measles vaccine are 97% effective against infection, health officials say.
CDC officials have identified 10 measles outbreaks across the country. The biggest people started in close-up communities with low vaccination rates in Gaines County, Texas, adjacent to New Mexico.
The outbreak has since spread to New Mexico and Oklahoma, and is suspected to be linked to more cases in Kansas, the CDC report says. The rise in outbreaks in Mexico’s Chihuahua state were also reported after residents became ill after visiting Gaines County.
So far, the report on Morbidity and Mortality Week has reported 884 measles cases nationwide, with “second highest annual number of cases in 25 years.”
During all of 2024, 285 measles cases were reported nationwide.
Of the cases reported so far this year, the median age of patients was 8 years old. About a third of infected people were under five, the report said. Of all measles patients, 96% were not vaccinated or had no vaccination status.
Nationally, 85 measles patients had to be hospitalized this year. With one exception, they were all unvaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown. Texas officials say the state’s latest measles death is caused by measles lung failure.
Most of the measles cases reported nationwide so far this year are linked to close communities with low vaccinations, the CDC said.
Before Friday’s announcement, nine measles have been reported in California this year, including Orange, Riverside, Fresno, San Mateo, Placer and Tuolmi counties, according to the California Department of Public Health.
In 2024, California confirmed 15 cases of measles. The total for 2023 was just four.
The worst outbreak of measles in California in recent memory occurred between December 2014 and April 2015. As a result of the infection, mainly in Disneyland, approximately 131 Californians have been infected. Six other states, Mexico and Canada, were also sick, according to the California Department of Public Health.
Following the outbreak, California lawmakers tightened vaccination requirements for school children as childhoods. Between 2023 and 2024, 96.2% of California kindergarten children were vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella.
This is slightly lower than the 96.5% seen in the previous year. But that’s beyond the level recorded before the Disneyland measles outbreak. This was less than 94%.
Public health experts say they are aiming for a 95% measles vaccination rate to prevent an outbreak.
Amid the ongoing outbreak, pediatricians have stepped up efforts to counter false information about both the disease and the vaccine.
“Measles vaccines are safe and effective,” the American Academy of Pediatrics said in a recent statement, rebutting what is called “wellness influencers and anti-vaccine advocates.”
“A wide range of studies have shown that MMR vaccines are safe and significantly reduce the risk of measles, a disease that can lead to severe complications and death,” the pediatric group said.
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