Texas Measles Outbreak May Continue for a Year, Officials Say
As containment efforts falter, the measles outbreak in West Texas is likely to persist for a year, perhaps even setting back the country's hard-fought victory over the virus, according to Texas health officials.
As of Friday, the outbreak had sickened more than 300 people in Texas since January; 40 have been hospitalized. One child has died from the disease, the first such death in a decade. Related cases have been reported in New Mexico, Oklahoma and Chihuahua, Mexico.
'This is going to be a large outbreak,' Katherine Wells, director of public health in Lubbock, Texas, said at a recent news briefing. 'And we are still on the side where we are increasing the number of cases.'
'I'm really thinking this is going to be a year long,' she added.
Some doctors in West Texas said in interviews that they had given up hope that a vaccination campaign could end the outbreak.
Dr. Ron Cook, also a state health official in Lubbock, said he had resigned himself to the fact that the outbreak will infect many more children, and may kill again.
'It's just going to have to burn through the community,' Dr. Cook said. 'That's where we are.'
So far, cases have been centered in a large Mennonite community in Gaines County, which has had historically low vaccination rates. But experts fear that the longer the outbreak lasts, the more likely it is to spread to other unvaccinated communities around the country.
In New Mexico, officials have reported 42 cases and one death. In Oklahoma, there have been four probable measles cases.
Public health officials are particularly concerned now that potentially infected children in West Texas will begin traveling for spring break, said Dr. Phil Huang, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services.
Measles has been considered 'eliminated' in the United States since 2000: Cases generally have been tied to international travel, and when the virus does strike an unvaccinated community, the outbreaks don't continue for longer than a year.
The United States nearly lost its elimination status in 2019, when a large outbreak spread through parts of New York State for nearly 12 months. The outbreak was contained in large part because of aggressive vaccine mandates, which helped substantially increase childhood immunization rates in the community.
In Texas, where mandates are deeply unpopular, the vaccination effort has 'been a struggle,' Ms. Wells said. Local public health officials have set up vaccination clinics around the region and encouraged attendance with fliers and billboards. There has been little success.
In Seminole, Texas, a city of about 7,200 people and the epicenter of the outbreak, roughly 230 residents have received shots at vaccination clinics.
'They've handed out a few vaccines in their community, but certainly not a lot,' Dr. Cook said.
'It doesn't help that our H.H.S. secretary continues to not really reinforce vaccination,' he added.
Local efforts to encourage the shots have been hamstrung by a muddled message from the country's top health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
In his first public statements about the outbreak, Mr. Kennedy faced intense backlash for minimizing the threat, saying outbreaks were 'not unusual' and falsely claiming that many people hospitalized were there 'mainly for quarantine.'
He later changed his approach, offering a muted recommendation of vaccines for people in West Texas while also raising frightening concerns about the safety of the vaccines.
To the frustration of local doctors and health officials, he has also promoted unproven treatments like cod liver oil and vitamins, and touted 'almost miraculous and instantaneous' recoveries with steroids or antibiotics.
There is no cure for measles, only medications to help manage the symptoms. Vaccination is the most effective way to prevent the infection.
Local health officials have said they worry that measles patients were over-relying on these unproven treatments and delaying critical medical care as a result.
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37 minutes ago
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RFK Jr. Bombarded Bill Nye With Endless Anti-Vax Text Screeds
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USA Today
12 hours ago
- USA Today
His sick wife asked him to kill her. Now that she's gone, he says the loneliness is worse.
His sick wife asked him to kill her. Now that she's gone, he says the loneliness is worse. Show Caption Hide Caption Handle with care: a caregiver's story Former caregiver David Cook reflects on the experience of caring for his dying wife and highlights the need for better help for other caregivers. Ever since his wife died in December, David Cook feels like a stranger in his own home. Cook, 68, keeps busy by volunteering at the airport and at a local literacy program. He goes to church and shares meals with friends. But he spends most of his time in his home office with his dogs Mickey and Bucky, a merle Chihuahua and a Yorkie-Chihuahua mix. The loneliness 'is a problem,' Cook said, and sometimes he slips into dark, depressive episodes he can only shake with sleep. He avoids the living room, with the framed photos of the two of them smiling together, the new plush carpet, the television where they'd watch tennis and golf and the ghost of the recliner she used to sit in. Patricia Cook died there, so for now − maybe forever − it's off limits. 'You never know what can set you off. It can be a song or something someone says to you," he said. "And all the sudden you're just down in the dumps.' Cook was Patricia Cook's husband for just shy of 38 years. For nearly a decade, he was her caregiver, too. He retired early to care for her, in 2018. His wife had myriad health problems and took a turn for the worse when lymphedema set in nine years ago, causing pain and leakage throughout her legs, which Cook said started to look "like raw meat." Three times a day, Cook said, he sat cross-legged on the floor to dry and wrap her legs, trying to ease her pain and bring her some comfort. After receiving cortisone injections to treat her plantares fasciitis, she developed an abscess on the bottom of her right foot "that never healed" and kept getting infected, Cook said. 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Patricia Cook was a sports fanatic, and Cook did his best to keep up with NASCAR, golf, tennis, and his wife's lifelong passion, the Green Bay Packers. His wife was larger than him, Cook said, and he dropped her a couple of times while helping her to the bathroom. There were several trips to the hospital, a two-week stay in the ICU and two sepsis scares. "This all got to feel normal," he said. Toward the end, he said he had to call 911 every time his wife needed to use the bathroom because he couldn't safely bring her there himself. He knows that's "not what they're designed to do," but he said the paramedics were nice about it. 'Most men in Dave's position, they would have checked out a long time ago," Ruh said. "They would have left. Dave is kind of an exception. There are exceptional men out there, and Dave is one of them.' The last time his wife was at the hospital, he watched three nurses struggle to get her onto a bedpan. That's when Patricia Cook decided she was ready to go into hospice. 'I thought, 'How is one 68-year-old man with a bad back going to handle this?' But I never challenged it," Cook said. "I said, 'OK. That's what you want, that's what we'll do.'" When they got home, Cook said the hospice company didn't explain anything to him. He didn't know how to distribute her pain medication and said his wife refused to use the hospital bed that they brought in. That's when Ruh, who has personal and professional caregiving experience, came to help. She said none of the equipment the company provided was useful for Patricia Cook's situation. 'It was a mess," Ruh said. "Poor Dave, I felt bad for him.' Ruh found a different hospice company for the Cooks and stopped by daily to check on them. When Cook had to leave to pick up food or new prescriptions, Ruh kept his wife company. Ruh knows that hospice is meant for end of life care, to keep a patient comfortable and happy so they can die peacefully. But she doesn't think Cook had fully accepted his wife was about to die. 'Honestly, I think they were both still in denial," she said. Cook was fed up and irritated by the first hospice company, and Ruh said he was afraid of the pain medications. That's common, she said. Family caregivers stress about how much to give a patient, and worry that they are aiding in their loved one's death if they give too much medicine. Patricia Cook was in hospice for nine days. She slipped into a coma after six of those days. Cook administered morphine for her every hour or so. He said he was afraid to go to sleep and miss a dosage. He started seeing double. He sat with her in the living room, listening as her snores progressed to a death rattle. 'To listen to that for three days and knowing there's nothing you can do," he said. "It was just awful.' Then, on Saturday, Dec. 14, the sounds ceased. Cook called the hospice company and the funeral home, and waited an hour and a half for his wife to be taken away. Recovering caregiver asks, 'Now what?' Cook said he lost 40 pounds in about a month because of the stress of caregiving. He stopped getting his hair cut or seeing his own doctor. He went four days without a shower. 'I was just so wiped out, and so mentally spent," he said. After his wife died, "I just wanted to sit in a chair and just kind of contemplate all this.' "All of a sudden, boom, it's over," Cook said. "Now what do you do?' The Cooks never had children. Cook's two brothers died years ago. Now, he said, he feels "really alone." He doesn't like being in his home anymore, the place he's lived for nearly two decades. He considered going back to work, but he's not sure that makes sense, either. 'What I'm going through now is far harder than taking care of her," he said. "When I was taking care of her, especially the last few months, I was so busy with all of this that I didn't have time to think about me.' Loneliness and a sense of uncertainty about the future are some of the most common reactions caregivers have after the person they cared for dies, Irving said. Caregivers might feel guilt, too, especially if they think their loved one was in pain before they died. Relief is common, too, Irving said − relief that their caregiving duties are over, or relief that their loved one isn't suffering anymore, or both. 'For many caregivers, they have put aside so many aspects of their life before caregiving that it's hard to know how to restart," Irving said. Soon after his wife died, Cook started a 13-week GriefShare program at his church. The support group met weekly to discuss common struggles people face while grieving. Jeff Forrey, a senior curriculum writer for Church Initiative, a nondenominational, nonprofit ministry that develops programs like GriefShare to help people in crisis, said more than one million people have been through the program. In GriefShare, Forrey said, participants get to know one another and encourage each other while going through videos, articles, exercises and bible studies. They talk about normal reactions to grief, like anxiety, anger, loneliness, identity issues and regrets. They also talk through what the future looks like without the person they love and how relationships with other friends and family members might change, too. 'It allows them to see the wide variety of possible reactions that are a part of normal grief," Forrey said. Cook found comfort in the program, where he said he was the only man among nearly 20 grieving women. He said talking about his experience caring for and then losing his wife was helpful as he tried to process all he's been through. 'You get to know these people," he said. "I was sorry to see it end.' Since then, Cook has had a couple of virtual therapy sessions. He'd rather see a therapist in person, but he said the wait to get an in-person appointment is at least six months. 'I'm a glass-half-full kind of person. I have faith that everything will be better again," Cook said. He laughs remembering how his wife, in her final weeks, encouraged him to date again after she died. She told him women will be "beating down the door for you." "'But don't you get married, or I'll haunt you,'" he said she told him. His dog Bucky still sleeps by Cook's heart, as he always has. But everything else in his life, Cook said, "is never going to be the same.' He doesn't regret any moment he spent caring for his wife. When you love someone, he said, it's what you do. "As tough as it is, it's worth it,' he said. 'I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.' Madeline Mitchell's role covering women and the caregiving economy at USA TODAY is supported by a partnership with Pivotal Ventures and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input. Reach Madeline at memitchell@ and @maddiemitch_ on X.
San Francisco Chronicle
2 days ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Measles outbreaks in Michigan and Pennsylvania end, while Texas logs just 4 new cases
The U.S. logged 122 more cases of measles last week — but only four of them in Texas — while the outbreaks in Pennsylvania and Michigan officially ended. There were 1,168 confirmed measles cases in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. Health officials in Texas, where the nation's biggest outbreak raged during the late winter and spring, said they'll now post case counts only once a week — yet another sign the outbreak is slowing. There are three other major outbreaks in North America. The longest, in Ontario, Canada, has resulted in 2,009 cases from mid-October through June 3. The province logged its first death Thursday in a baby that got congenital measles but also had other preexisting conditions. Another outbreak in Alberta, Canada, has sickened 761 as of Thursday. And the Mexican state of Chihuahua had 1,940 measles cases and four deaths as of Friday, according to data from the state health ministry. Other U.S. states with active outbreaks — which the CDC defines as three or more related cases — include Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio and Oklahoma. In the U.S., two elementary school-aged children in the epicenter in West Texas and an adult in New Mexico have died of measles this year. All were unvaccinated. Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that's airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. It is preventable through vaccines, and has been considered eliminated from the U.S. since 2000. There were a total of 742 cases across 35 counties, most of them in West Texas, state health officials said Friday. Throughout the outbreak, 94 people have been hospitalized. State health officials estimated less than 1% of cases — fewer than 10 — are actively infectious. Fifty-five percent of Texas' cases are in Gaines County, where the virus started spreading in a close-knit, undervaccinated Mennonite community. The county has had 411 cases since late January — just under 2% of the county's residents. The April 3 death in Texas was an 8-year-old child, according to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Local health officials said the child did not have underlying health conditions and died of 'what the child's doctor described as measles pulmonary failure.' A unvaccinated child with no underlying conditions died of measles in Texas in late February; Kennedy said the child was 6. How many measles cases are there in New Mexico? New Mexico added two cases in the last week for a total of 81. Seven people have been hospitalized since the outbreak started. Most of the state's cases are in Lea County. Sandoval County near Albuquerque has six cases, Eddy County has three, Doña Ana County has two. Chaves, Curry and San Juan counties have one each. An unvaccinated adult died of measles-related illness March 6. The person did not seek medical care. How many cases are there in Oklahoma? Oklahoma added one case last week for a total of 15 confirmed and three probable cases. The state health department is not releasing which counties have cases. How many cases are there in Colorado? Colorado has seen a total of 12 measles cases in 2025, which includes one outbreak of seven related cases. The outbreak is linked to a Turkish Airlines flight that landed at Denver International Airport in mid-May, and includes three cases each in Arapahoe and El Paso counties and one in Denver, plus a person who doesn't live in Colorado. Other counties that have seen measles this year include Archuleta and Pueblo. How many cases are there in Illinois? Illinois health officials confirmed a four-case outbreak on May 5 in the far southern part of the state, and it's grown to eight cases as of June 6, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. The state's other two cases so far this year were in Cook County, and are unrelated to the southern Illinois outbreak. How many cases are there in Kansas? Kansas has a total of 71 cases across 11 counties in the southwestern part of the state, with three hospitalizations. All but two of the cases are connected, and most are in Gray County. How many cases are there in Montana? Montana had 17 measles cases as of Thursday. Ten were in Gallatin County, which is where the first cases showed up — Montana's first in 35 years. Flathead and Yellowstone counties had two cases each, and Hill County had three case. There are outbreaks in neighboring North Dakota and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan. How many cases are there in North Dakota? North Dakota, which hadn't seen measles since 2011, was up to 34 cases as of Friday. Two of the people have been hospitalized, and all of the people with confirmed cases were not vaccinated. There were 16 cases in Williams County in western North Dakota on the Montana border. On the eastern side of the state on the Minnesota border, there were 10 cases in Grand Forks County and seven cases in Cass County. Burke County, in northwest North Dakota on the border of Saskatchewan, Canada, had one case. How many cases are there in Ohio? Ohio remained steady for a third week at 34 measles cases and one hospitalization, according to the Ohio Department of Health. That count includes only Ohio residents. The state has two outbreaks: Ashtabula County near Cleveland has 16 cases, and Knox County in east-central Ohio has 20 — 14 among Ohio residents and the rest among visitors. Allen, Cuyahoga, Holmes and Defiance counties have one case each. How many cases are there in Tennessee? Tennessee has had six measles cases since early May, but no change since. Tennessee's outbreak appears to be over, as health officials say there have not been any new cases in six weeks. Where else is measles showing up in the U.S.? Measles cases also have been reported in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. Earlier outbreaks in Indiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania were declared over by health officials after six weeks of no new cases. Cases and outbreaks in the U.S. are frequently traced to someone who caught the disease abroad. The CDC said in May that more than twice as many measles have come from outside of the U.S. compared to May of last year, and most of those are in unvaccinated Americans returning home. In 2019, the U.S. saw 1,274 cases and almost lost its status of having eliminated measles. What do you need to know about the MMR vaccine? The best way to avoid measles is to get the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. The first shot is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old and the second between 4 and 6 years old. Getting another MMR shot as an adult is harmless if there are concerns about waning immunity, the CDC says. People who have documentation of receiving a live measles vaccine in the 1960s don't need to be revaccinated, but people who were immunized before 1968 with an ineffective vaccine made from 'killed' virus should be revaccinated with at least one dose, the agency said. People who have documentation that they had measles are immune, and those born before 1957 generally don't need the shots because so many children got measles back then that they have 'presumptive immunity." Measles has a harder time spreading through communities with high vaccination rates — above 95% — due to '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 kids from required shots. What are the symptoms of measles? Measles first infects the respiratory tract, then spreads throughout the body, causing a high fever, runny nose, cough, red, watery eyes and a rash. The rash generally appears three to five days after the first symptoms, beginning as flat red spots on the face and then spreading downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet. When the rash appears, the fever may spike over 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the CDC. How can you treat measles? There's no specific treatment for measles, so doctors generally try to alleviate symptoms, prevent complications and keep patients comfortable. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
