FORT WORTH, Texas, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- A Tarrant County, Texas, measles outbreak is linked to a church where a visitor, back from an international mission, attended a service, a doctor said.
Ten of 11 confirmed measles cases in the county have been linked to the Eagle Mountain International Church in Newark, Texas, Tarrant County Public Health Department chief epidemiologist Russell Jones said, adding the second of the 11 cases was the church visitor.
Jones said the 1,500-member church, part of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, based in Fort Worth, has been helpful in informing its members and getting them involved in the effort to curb the outbreak.
Robert Hayes, risk manager of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, said Tuesday the man who spread the virus alerted authorities when he realized he had measles.
"He was not from our church but knew several people in the church," Hayes said, noting the man returned from a multinational mission trip and visited the Newark church July 21.
The outbreak is unusual, with no measles cases reported in Tarrant County in 2012, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram said Wednesday.
