
Louisiana, Missouri and Virginia report first measles cases of 2025
Louisiana, Missouri and Virginia have all reported their first measles cases in 2025, and they say all three patients' cases are linked to international travel.
The most recently announced case in northwest Virginia is a child in the 0 to 4-year age range who had recently traveled internationally, according to the state's health department. Officials did not clarify if the child was vaccinated against the virus.
'This first case of measles in Virginia this year is a reminder of how easily this highly contagious disease can spread, particularly with international travel,' said state epidemiologist Laurie Forlano. 'Vaccination remains our best defense against measles and is safe and highly effective at protecting people and preventing outbreaks.'
The Virginia Department of Health identified two Kaiser Permanente medical centers in Woodbridge and Fredericksburg as areas of potential exposure, adding that officials are working to help identify those exposed to the illness.
The Louisiana case is an adult from the southeast of the state who was not vaccinated against measles, according to the Department of Health. The patient received treatment at a hospital and is in isolation, where they will remain until no longer infectious.
'The LDH Office of Public Health is working to identify and notify those who have come into contact with the infected individual,' the department said.
The Missouri measles case involves a child 'associated with recent international travel' visiting Taney County, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said. The child's vaccination status is not clear at this time.
'There is no indication of widespread exposure as this person was diagnosed soon after arrival to Taney County,' the department said in an update. 'Exposure is believed to be limited, and known contacts have been identified and contacted.'
These cases come amid the largest measles outbreak the U.S. has faced in six years. Even given the outbreak, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has remained relatively silent on the public health threat, providing just weekly updates on its website and sending an alert to doctors last month.
Earlier this month, the Texas Department of State Health Services said the measles toll in the state rose to 481 confirmed cases, including six young children at a day care center in Lubbock. Fifty-six people have been hospitalized in the area since the disease started spreading in late January.
The CDC sent 2,000 doses of the measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, vaccine to Texas health officials at their request, but hasn't held a news briefing about the illness since 2019, when two large outbreaks in New York threatened to reverse the United States' status of having eliminated the virus.
Before this year, the United States had not had a measles death in a decade, and a child had not died of measles since 2003.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
17 hours ago
- The Independent
Does the NHS discriminate against children who attend private school?
On the face of it, the idea that the NHS would withhold treatment to a child with special needs because they attended private school is a clear outrage. I say this as someone who went to a state school, whose children are schooled in the state sector, and who supports VAT on school fees. The NHS has, however, flatly denied the Mail on Sunday 's exclusive about it happening, a story about yet another 'two-tier' system operating in Britain – see also justice and policing – which has predictably grown legs, with other such incidents now being reported. 'The story is not true,' the Department of Health & Social Care said in a statement, 'NHS services are free at the point of use to all.' Well, yes, that's the theory – but we'll get to that. 'NHS occupational therapy services are provided for all children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). For those without an EHCP, some schools provide on-site NHS occupational therapy,' it continued. So what's going on here? Let's run through the story first. I'm going on what has been reported, because the mother wished to remain anonymous – understandably, at a time of polarisation, when nasty social media pile-ons for perceived wrong-think are all too common. We are told that her eight-year-old son was referred to a paediatrician at Kingston Hospital in south-west London after she noticed he was 'struggling to hold the pen well enough to write properly', along with other mobility issues. It was at the hospital that the problems arose. She was asked to fill in a form which included the question: 'Where does your child go to school?' The mother hoped for an appointment at the children's occupational therapy service in Richmond for a crucial part of his assessment. However, days later, she received a text message saying the child had been declined. She claimed the specialist unit wrote a letter to her GP saying that it was 'only commissioned to provide a service' to children in mainstream schools. Point of order: Many children with disabilities don't attend mainstream schools, and some of those who go private do so with funding from local councils because of the gaps in state provision. But let's move on. The website of the Kingston & Richmond NHS Foundation Trust states: 'Children and young people of school age can be referred via their School SENCo [Special Educational Needs Coordinator] for assessment if they attend a state-funded Richmond school and have a Richmond or Kingston address.' A spokesman declined to address claims by the Mail on Sunday that pupils from private schools had been discriminated against, but 'apologised if the wording in our correspondence caused upset": 'We are in the process of revising it to ensure greater clarity.' Which is about as clear as mud. Nevertheless, he added: 'Occupational therapy services are available to all school-age children who have an Education, Health and Care Plan either through the NHS or the local authority. For children without an EHCP, advice may be available through existing NHS services provided in state school.' Here's where it gets kafkaesque: EHCPs are extraordinarily hard to get, even if you do have mobility issues and struggle to hold a pen. It took us years of exhausting battles to secure one for our eldest, who has autism. You need a battery of assessments to get past first base, often including occupational therapists. It is obviously problematic if you can't get occupational therapy without an EHCP in the first place. By now, you've probably guessed that this appears to be a case of 'heads we win, tails you lose'. Your name's not on the list, you're not getting in for this, that, or any other service you might need. My reading of this story is that it is less about discrimination against private schools than it is yet another case of the NHS using any excuse to say no – and of the horrible bureaucratic hellscape that parents with children with special educational needs and disabilities are thrown into. It is a system that crushes those involved with it. It is like being constantly hit on the head with a sledgehammer while being stretched on a medieval rack. As a family, we've been in the same boat with occupational therapy services: denial of service followed by letters followed by the runaround. At one point, in despair, we went to see our local MP Wes Streeting who is now – ding ding ding! – the health secretary. It doesn't much matter if your child is in the private or the state education system. If they have special needs or disabilities, they and their parents will rapidly come to the conclusion that all the agencies supposed to assist them – the NHS, the local authority, sometimes even the school – are actually against them. That, for me, is the takeaway from this story. It is about a scandalous failure to provide assistance to children who need it. Reform has been repeatedly promised, but we all know that money is tight. Worse still is the fact that bad actors – by which I mean some of the worst local authorities – appear to have the government's ear. Perhaps stories like this will make ministers think twice before listening to them? As for the NHS, it was set up to treat people. It shouldn't matter if your children are schooled publicly or privately. Nor should your postcode play a role. Nor whether or not you have a disability. But the battles I have had to fight in order to overcome what feels like institutional ableism could fill a book. We all pay for the service with our taxes, and we should be able to access necessary treatments. Occupational therapy for a child with mobility issues clearly qualifies, regardless of where they go to school. It really shouldn't be this hard.


Belfast Telegraph
3 days ago
- Belfast Telegraph
NHS set for boost of up to £30bn as other budgets feel squeeze
The Department of Health is set to be handed a 2.8% annual increase in its day-to-day budget over a three-year period. The cash injection, which amounts to a rise of about £30 billion by 2028, or £17 billion in real terms, will see other areas including police and councils squeezed, The Times newspaper reported. Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to ensure that by the next election 92% of patients in England waiting for planned treatment are seen within 18 weeks of being referred. Latest NHS data suggests around 60% of people are currently seen in this time and figures released last month showed the overall number of patients on waiting lists had risen slightly from 6.24 million to 6.25 million. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has acknowledged that she had been forced to turn down requests for funding in a sign of the behind-the-scenes wrangling over her spending review. She insisted the blame for the tight economic situation lay with the Conservatives rather than her rigid rules on borrowing and spending. The Chancellor said despite a £190 billion increase in funding over the spending review period 'not every department will get everything that they want next week and I have had to say no to things that I want to do too'. On top of the increase in day-to-day spending, funded in part by the tax hikes Ms Reeves set out in her budget, looser borrowing rules will help support a £113 billion investment package. Economists have warned the Chancellor faces 'unavoidably' tough choices when she sets out departmental spending plans on June 11. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank said defence and the NHS will dominate the review, raising the prospect of cuts to other unprotected departments.

Leader Live
3 days ago
- Leader Live
NHS set for boost of up to £30bn as other budgets feel squeeze
The Department of Health is set to be handed a 2.8% annual increase in its day-to-day budget over a three-year period. The cash injection, which amounts to a rise of about £30 billion by 2028, or £17 billion in real terms, will see other areas including police and councils squeezed, The Times newspaper reported. Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to ensure that by the next election 92% of patients in England waiting for planned treatment are seen within 18 weeks of being referred. Latest NHS data suggests around 60% of people are currently seen in this time and figures released last month showed the overall number of patients on waiting lists had risen slightly from 6.24 million to 6.25 million. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has acknowledged that she had been forced to turn down requests for funding in a sign of the behind-the-scenes wrangling over her spending review. She insisted the blame for the tight economic situation lay with the Conservatives rather than her rigid rules on borrowing and spending. The Chancellor said despite a £190 billion increase in funding over the spending review period 'not every department will get everything that they want next week and I have had to say no to things that I want to do too'. On top of the increase in day-to-day spending, funded in part by the tax hikes Ms Reeves set out in her budget, looser borrowing rules will help support a £113 billion investment package. Economists have warned the Chancellor faces 'unavoidably' tough choices when she sets out departmental spending plans on June 11. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank said defence and the NHS will dominate the review, raising the prospect of cuts to other unprotected departments.