Texas outbreak could upend measles elimination claim by US

New York, May 1 (IANS) The US declared measles eliminated 25 years ago, but the growing outbreak of the disease centered in West Texas poses a threat to this status and signals the possibility of measles becoming more common, media reported.

"The Texas outbreak, which began in late January, has sickened more than 700 people, hospitalised dozens and spread to other states. Measles has taken its first lives in the US in over a decade," noted the Wall Street Journal report on Wednesday.

Some public health leaders and epidemiologists say it is possible the months-long Texas outbreak could last longer than a year, endangering the US's status, it added.

The US achieved the elimination milestone in 2000 after widespread vaccination efforts inoculated the vast majority of children with the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine, Xinhua news agency reported.

The World Health Organisation considers measles eliminated in countries where there is no endemic spread for at least 12 months under a robust tracking system. A disease is endemic when it has a regular presence within a population, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Measles cases in Texas rose to 663 on Tuesday, according to the state's health department, an increase of 17 cases since April 25, as the US battles one of its worst outbreaks of the previously eradicated childhood disease.

Cases in Gaines county, the centre of the outbreak, rose to 396, three more from its last update on Friday, the Texas department of state health services said.

Other states with active outbreaks -- defined as three or more cases -- include Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

With one-fifth of states seeing active measles outbreaks, the US is nearing 900 cases, according to figures posted on Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC's confirmed measles cases count is 884, triple the amount seen in all of 2024.

In communities with high vaccination rates -- above 95 per cent -- diseases like measles have a harder time spreading through communities. This is called "herd immunity".

But childhood vaccination rates have declined nationwide since the pandemic and more parents are claiming religious or personal conscience waivers to exempt their children from required shots.

The US saw a rise in measles cases in 2024, including an outbreak in Chicago that sickened more than 60.

--IANS

int/khz