April 15 (UPI) -- The total measles cases in Texas increased by 20 since Friday to 561 since late January, which leads the nation by a wide margin, the Texas Department of State Health Services announced Tuesday.
Most of the state's measles cases are located in West Texas, but only 4% of the confirmed cases are people who were actively infectious when diagnosed, the state health department said in a news alert.
"Due to the highly contagious nature of this disease, additional cases are likely to occur in the outbreak area and the surrounding communities," Texas health officials said.
Unvaccinated individuals and those whose vaccination status is unknown account for 550 of the 561 confirmed cases, Texas Health Department officials said.
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Four cases were reported among those who received one vaccine dose and seven among those who had two or more vaccination doses.
Two school-aged children have died from the Texas measles outbreak that also hospitalized 58 patients and is centered in 10 counties that mostly are located near the New Mexico state line. Another death has been reported in another state.
Nationally, about 97% of all measles cases are among those who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown, ABC News reported
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends everyone get at least two measles, mumps and rubella vaccine doses with the first among those between 12 and 15 months of age and the second among those who are between 4 and 6 years old.
A single dose is 93% effective at preventing measles and a second dose raises the effectiveness to 97%.
Gaines County reports most cases
Texas counties with ongoing measles outbreaks are Cochran, Dallam, Dawson, Gaines, Garza, Lynn, Lamar, Lubbock, Terry and Yoakum.
Nearly 65% of all cases, 364, were confirmed in Gaines County, which is located along the New Mexico state line and about 60 miles north of Odessa.
Terry County recorded the second-highest number of measles cases with 47, which accounts for 8.4% of the state's total. Cases have been confirmed in 23 Texas counties.
Teens and young children account for the largest number of measles cases, with 206 reported among those between ages 5 and 17. Some 127 to 175 of the infected are among those who are ages 4 and under.
Another 156 cases were reported among Texans who are 18 and over, and 24 cases are pending.
Eight of the new cases were reported in the El Paso area, which has spurred at least one local daycare to take preventive measures.
Texas does not require unvaccinated children to be excluded from daycares, Jacquelin Reza, El Paso Flowers in the Garden Child Development Center owner and director, told KFOX.
Reza and her staff are focusing on spotting possible measles symptoms in children before taking action by looking for coughing and runny noses and taking children's temperatures every day.
"Once we see the symptoms, then children have to go home to go be seen by a doctor," Reza said. "In order to return, they have to have a doctor's note."
She said her staff also disinfects toys every day and separates age groups to reduce potential exposures.
Texas tops nation in measles
The Texas measles outbreak accounts for the majority of the nation's 712 confirmed measles cases in 24 states, ABC News reported.
In addition to Texas, outbreaks have been reported in Indiana, Kansas, New Mexico and Ohio.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. recently downplayed the measles outbreaks but told CBS News he encourages people to get vaccinated against measles if they haven't already or if their vaccination status is unknown.
Kennedy said the federal government should not mandate vaccines, though.
Former Food and Drug Administration vaccine official Dr. Peter Marks criticized Kennedy's take on the measles outbreak, which is the nation's worst since 2019.
"To dismiss children's deaths due to infectious diseases that are preventable by vaccines as just expected or not a big deal, that's unacceptable to me," Marks said during a "Face the Nation" interview on Sunday.
Marks recently was forced to resign from his position.
