Measles -cases in Texas and New Mexico have surpassed all American things that were registered last year.
The CDC showed that a total of 294 cases had been registered in the outbreak since the end of January.
This is 38 cases higher in the past three days, and above the total national count for 2024 when the US registered 285 cases.
It is also the highest count nationwide since 2019, when 1,274 measles shops were reported after an outbreak in an orthodox Jewish community in New York.
Until now, 34 patients have been admitted to the hospital in Texas and two deaths have been reported – both in people who were not vaccinated.
In Texas, 99.2 percent of patients – or 257 out of 259 – are not vaccinated against the virus.
The CDC has said that the measles vaccine is the best way to prevent the virus from catching, with the recording that everyone is offered in 12 months and four to six years.
The above shows Seminole, in the west of Texas, where the outbreak started at the end of January
Of the 259 cases in Texas, 174 are in Gaines County, in the center of the outbreak, of 156 cases reported on 11 March.
In a neighboring community in New Mexico, things rose from 33 to 35 on Friday, including two cases in Eddy County and the rest in Lea County – who border Gaines County.
There are also two suspected cases in Oklahoma among people who have recently returned to the state from the center of the outbreak.
A non -vaccinated child without underlying health problems died in Texas in Texas in February and marked the first death in the US since 2015. Another death of a non -vaccinated adult in New Mexico is being investigated.
The Texas State Health Department classified 257 patients as 'non -vaccinated or unknown' on Friday, including people without documented doses of measles vaccine more than 14 days before the symptoms appeared.
After additional investigation, three cases were previously wrongly classified as vaccinated.
The growing outbreak is the first major challenge for the American health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a long -term vaccine skeptic.
He published a statement in which the vaccine is emphasized as a way to prevent infection, but has also received criticism for promoting other, less proven, treatments such as vitamin A tablets.
Measles is the most contagious disease in the world, where one patient is able to infect nine out of 10 non -vaccinated people with which they come into contact.
However, the vaccine reduces the risk of developing the disease by 97 percent.
The infection is spread through breathing drops that are driven through cough and sneezing that can hang in the air for up to two hours.
The graph above shows the Cases of Measles per year since 2000
The above is a stock image of a child who is infected with measles in the state
Infected patients first suffer from fever, cough, runny nose and sore throat before they develop the characteristic red rash that starts on the face and spreads to the rest of the body, including the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet.
Patients are usually treated with painkillers, but can also receive antibiotics if they develop a corresponding infection or vitamin A if they show signs of malnourished.
In severe cases they may also need help.
In general, the US has now registered 301 measles in 14 states and three outbreaks this year.
In Texas, children and teenagers between five and 17 years old are the most cases, followed by children under four years old.
More than 17.5 percent of the parents of children who started the kindergarten in Gaines County applied for an exemption last year at at least one vaccine, one of the highest percentages in the state.
