Other affected provinces in Texas are Dawson (6 cases); Ector (1); Lubbock (1); Lynn (1); Terry (20); and Yoakum (4).
In Texas, the majority of cases remain in children: 26 are in infants and young children from 0 to 4 years and 51 are between the ages of 5 and 17. All cases have been with non -vaccinated people. Sixteen people (about 18 percent) were admitted to the hospital.
In New Mexico there have been no hospital admissions and there are five of the nine cases in adults. The other four cases were between the ages of 5 and 17 years.
Given the low vaccination percentage in the area and the infectivity of measles, health officials expect that the outbreak continues to grow. Measles is one of the most contagious viruses that are known; 90 percent of people who are not -vaccinated and exposed will get sick. The disease is characterized by a high fever and a meaningful result and can cause serious complications, including younger children.
In the US, about 20 percent of people with measles are usually admitted to the hospital. Five percent develops pneumonia and up to 3 in 1,000 dying of the infection. In rare cases, measles can cause a deadly disease of the central nervous system, later in life called Subacute sclerosing Panencefalitis. Measles also sweeps immune reactions to other infections (a phenomenon known as immune memory loss), making people vulnerable to different diseases.
