A day care facility in a Texas county that is a part of the measles outbreak has a number of circumstances, together with youngsters too younger to be totally vaccinated, public well being officers say.
West Texas is in the midst of a still-growing measles outbreak with 481 circumstances Friday. The state expanded the variety of counties within the outbreak space this week to 10. The extremely contagious virus started to unfold in late January and well being officers say it has unfold to New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Mexico.
Three individuals who had been unvaccinated have died from measles-related diseases this yr, together with two elementary school-aged youngsters in Texas. The second baby died Thursday at a Lubbock hospital, and Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attended the funeral in Seminole, the epicenter of the outbreak.
As of Friday, there have been seven circumstances at a day care the place one younger baby who was infectious gave it to 2 different youngsters earlier than it unfold to different lecture rooms, Lubbock Public Well being director Katherine Wells mentioned.
“Measles is so contagious I gained’t be shocked if it enters different amenities,” Wells mentioned.
There are greater than 200 youngsters on the day care, Wells mentioned, and most have had least one dose of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, which is first really helpful between 12 and 15 months previous and a second shot between 4 and 6 years previous.
“We do have some youngsters which have solely obtained one dose that at the moment are contaminated,” she mentioned.
The general public well being division is recommending that any baby with just one vaccine get their second dose early, and altered its suggestion for teenagers in Lubbock County to get the primary vaccine dose at 6 months previous as a substitute of 1. A baby who’s unvaccinated and attends the day care should keep dwelling for 21 days since their final publicity, Wells mentioned.
Case depend and hospitalization numbers in Texas have climbed steadily for the reason that outbreak started, and spiked by 81 circumstances from March 28 to April 4, with 16 extra individuals hospitalized in that point.
The U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention met with Texas officers Monday to find out how many individuals it might ship to West Texas to help with the outbreak response, spokesman Jason McDonald mentioned Monday. He anticipated a small workforce to reach later this week, adopted by a much bigger group on the bottom subsequent week.
The CDC mentioned its first workforce was within the area from early March to April 1, withdrawing on-the-ground help days earlier than a second baby died within the outbreak.
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AP reporter Amanda Seitz in Washington contributed to this report.
