Potential measles exposure in Central Texas now includes Buc-ee's in New Braunfels

Yahoo

25-02-2025

The Texas Department of State Health Services on Tuesday gave more details about potential measles exposures in San Marcos and San Antonio, and added New Braunfels to the list of affected cities. It also said that the exposures in the three cities were by the same person.
The department also updated its measles count to 124 confirmed cases around the Panhandle and the Lubbock areas.
The exposures in Central Texas came from one person who traveled during Valentine's Day weekend from Gaines County in West Texas before they knew they were infected.
Here's where this person went, officials said:
Friday, Feb. 14:
11 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Allsup's Convenience Store in Wall, near San Angelo
3 to 7 p.m. – Texas State University in San Marcos
6 to 10 p.m. – Twin Peaks restaurant in San Marcos
Saturday, Feb. 15:
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. – University of Texas at San Antonio main campus
2:30 to 7:30 p.m. – Louis Tussaud's Waxworks, Ripley's Believe It or Not, and Ripley's Illusion Lab, all in San Antonio
6 to 10 p.m. – Mr. Crabby's Seafood in Live Oak
Sunday, Feb. 16:
9 a.m. to 12 noon – Buc-ee's in New Braunfels
12:30 to 3 p.m. – Allsup's convenience store in Wall
The Hays County Health Department is telling people to do these things:
Review their immunization records. If they have not been immunized, they should go ahead and consider getting the vaccine, although it will not protect them from this current exposure, but for future exposure. Because vaccines wane, even people vaccinated as children might not have enough antibodies. You can do a blood test to determine your antibody level.
Notify your doctor if you have been exposed and are pregnant, have an infant or a have a weakened immune system even if you have been vaccinated.
Monitor yourself for illness with fever and/or a rash four to 21 days after Feb. 12.
Stay home if symptoms develop. Call your doctor immediately, but do not enter your doctor's office or another medical facility before calling them and making sure they know you are a possible measles case. The doctor's office will alert the county health department.
Measles can live for up to two hours in an airspace where the infected person coughed or sneezed. If other people breathe the contaminated air or touch an infected surface, and then touch their eyes, nose or mouth, they can become infected.
Measles also comes with days or weeks of illness, horrible side effects and lifelong complications or death. "We've seen those cases after measles or chicken pox with complications in the brain and body," Dr. Edgar Navarro Garza, a pediatrician at Harbor Health, said last year. "Their quality of life will never be the same."
Children younger than 5, pregnant women, adults 20 and older if they have not had the vaccine or whose bloodwork does not show an acceptable level of immunity, and people with weakened immune systems are especially vulnerable to the disease.
A fever of 101 degrees or higher
A rash lasting more than three days, which typically begins at the hairline and progresses down the body
Cough
Runny nose
Conjunctivitis in the eyes
Bluish-white spots in the back of the mouth or red-rose background
Measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, but then one big thing changed.
People decided not to vaccinate their children with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. One dose of the MMR vaccine is typically given at 12 to 15 months and then a second at 4 to 6 years.
Two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine are required by kindergarten to enroll in public schools unless you get an exception.
Now 89.6% of kindergarteners are fully vaccinated in Travis County, 94.8% in Williamson County, 95.1% in Hays County, 94.9% in Bastrop County and 96.9% in Caldwell County. Once vaccination rates fall below 95%, infectious disease specialists worry about the loss of herd immunity to protect people who are unvaccinated or cannot be vaccinated for health reasons such as a cancer diagnosis.
"It's a very, very rare situation when a child should have a medical exemption," Dr. Elizabeth Knapp, a pediatric chief at Austin Regional Clinic, said last year.
Contact your primary care provider or you can go through Austin Public Health. You can get vaccinated as an adult if you have not been vaccinated previously.
Austin Public Health offers vaccines for free or at reduced rates for children and adults who do not have insurance or have Medicaid or are underinsured. The typical cost is $13 for children and $25 for adults. You can make an appointment at 512-972-5520 for either of the clinics at 405 W. Stassney Lane in South Austin or the 7500 Blessing Ave. location in Northeast Austin.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: New Braunfels' Buc-ee's now part of potential measles exposure list