While preventable with a vaccine, measles is a highly contagious. Credit: Shutterstock / Aleksandr Finch

The number of confirmed measles cases in Texas has reached 597, public health experts said Friday amid growing concern the outbreak is spreading to other states along with Mexico and Canada.

The Texas cases are now spread across 25 counties and represent an increase of 36 new infections since Tuesday, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. A total of 62 people in the state have been hospitalized since the outbreak began in January, and two school-age children have died.

Health officials in Colin County, which includes a swath of the Dallas suburbs, also warned Thursday of possible measles exposure after a person who spent time there on April 10 and 11 tested positive for the highly contagious disease.

Texas’ latest numbers arrive as Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Ohio and Pennsylvanian all report outbreaks of three or more cases, according to the Associated Press. Further, the number of measles infections nationwide has now hit 800, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows.

Health officials have linked the Kansas, New Mexico and Oklahoma cases back to Texas, according to multiple media reports.

Further, the disease has spread to border communities in Canada and Mexico with the latter outbreak connected back to Texas, according to the New York Times. Canada has reported 730 cases, while Mexico has tallied 360 and one death.

Even though the U.S. considered measles eliminated in 2000, it now has more than double the number of cases reported for all of 2024, the Associated Press further reports. The numbers are fueling worries the spread could stretch on for a year, fueled by communities with low vaccination rates, medical experts told the news service.

Dr. Peter Hotez, professor of pediatrics and molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, told Democracy Now! in a Friday interview that Texas’ total number of infections is probably far larger than state numbers let on.

“It’s probably much higher than that, because if you do the back-of-the-envelope calculation based on the case fatality rate of measles, there’s probably closer to a thousand, or maybe even more than that, cases in West Texas,” said Hotez, one of the nation’s top infectious disease doctors. “And now it’s extending into New Mexico, into Oklahoma, into Kansas. They all seem to be related to the same very large epidemic.”

The most effective way to slow the spread of measles is through the MMR vaccine, which has been safe and widespread use since 1971, according to health experts. The vast majority of Texas’ current cases have been among those who either aren’t vaccinated or had uncertain vaccination status, according the Department of State Health Services.

The Texas outbreak originated in a religious community with low vaccination rates an hour and a half north of Lubbock. Meanwhile, national vaccine rates continue to decline as right-wing political figures and online sources spread spurious claims about the safety and efficacy of vaccines.

Trump White House Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent anti-vaxxer, falsely claimed in a televised April 10 cabinet meeting that measles cases were plateauing nationally even though the numbers were continuing to rise. Further, he’s sent mixed messages by stating MRR shots are “effective” at preventing measles while also raising safety concerns about the vaccine and describing its use as matter of personal choice.

Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican closely aligned with the Trump administration, has issued few public pronouncements on the outbreak and has offered no public statement urging people to get immunized to slow the spread of the disease.

During his Democracy Now! interview, Hotez called Kennedy’s statements on the importance of the MMR vaccine “insufficient” and his claims about the safety of vaccines “absolute nonsense.”

“He grudgingly acknowledges the importance of the MMR vaccine and immunizations, when it’s the only way we’re going to be able to contain this highly dangerous and lethal epidemic,” Hotez said. “So he needs to be much more of an advocate for MMR vaccinations.”

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This article appears in Apr 16-29, 2025.

Sanford Nowlin is editor-in-chief of the San Antonio Current. He holds degrees from Trinity University and the University of Texas at San Antonio, and his work has been featured in Salon, Alternet, Creative...