Two dead, nearly 230 sickened in US measles outbreak: Authorities
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As of March 7, Texas had reported 198 cases of measles and New Mexico 10, bringing the total to 208.
PHOTO: AFP
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WASHINGTON – A measles outbreak in the south-western United States has killed two people and infected more than 200, prompting a top health agency to issue a travel warning.
As of March 7, Texas had reported 198 cases and New Mexico 30, bringing the total to 228. Each state confirmed one death. Both were unvaccinated, and the New Mexico patient tested positive for measles posthumously.
Although their official cause of death has not been released, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has classified it as a measles-related fatality.
“More cases are expected as this outbreak continues to expand rapidly,” the CDC warned in a Health Alert Network advisory to healthcare workers, public health officials, and potential travellers.
“With spring and summer travel season approaching in the United States, CDC emphasises the important role that clinicians and public health officials play in preventing the spread of measles,” the agency said.
“They should be vigilant for cases of febrile rash illness that meet the measles case definition and share effective measles prevention strategies, including vaccination guidance for international travellers.”
Measles is highly contagious, spreading through respiratory droplets and lingering in the air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves an area. The disease causes fever, respiratory symptoms, and a rash – but can also lead to severe complications, including pneumonia, brain inflammation, and death.
Vaccination remains the best protection. The measles vaccine, required for children 12 months and older, confers 93 per cent lifetime immunity after one dose, rising to 97 per cent after two.
But immunisation rates have been declining in the US
The CDC recommends a 95 per cent vaccination rate for herd immunity, but nationwide coverage among kindergartners had slumped to 92.7 per cent by 2023 to 2024.
Current Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr spent decades falsely linking the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine to autism – a claim thoroughly debunked by scientific research.
Since the outbreak expanded, he has softened his stance, recommending vaccination while simultaneously promoting treatments such as vitamin A and steroids
While these treatments are medically valid, experts warn that emphasising them may divert attention from the urgent need to boost immunisation rates.
Before this outbreak, the last US measles-related death was in 2015, when a Washington state woman died from virus-induced pneumonia while on immunosuppressive medication. The previous fatality was in 2003. AFP
