Texas officials said Tuesday there have been 624 confirmed measles cases in the state since late January. The number reflects 27 additional cases since their last update on April 18.
“Sixty-four of the patients have been hospitalized. This number is the total number of people hospitalized over the course of the outbreak. It is not the current number of people in the hospital,” according to a release from the Texas Department of State Health Services.
“There have been two fatalities in school-aged children who lived in the outbreak area. The children were not vaccinated and had no known underlying conditions,” it noted.
Officials reported that the measles outbreak has primarily impacted West Texas, while the Texas health agency noted less than 2 percent of the confirmed cases, or fewer than 10, are estimated to be actively infectious since their rash onset date was less than a week ago.
Across the country, a total of 800 measles cases in two dozen states have been confirmed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. Georgia, New Mexico, Kansas, Indiana and Ohio are among the states that have reported cases.
The CDC reports 96 percent of cases so far have been in people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown. The majority of those sickened have also been children.
Health authorities are working to control the outbreaks. If the spread continues, experts warn the U.S. risks losing its “measles elimination status,” a designation the country has had for 25 years.
