The Truth Seekers Journal

By Devi Shastri |AP Health Writer | April 14, 2025

The number of U.S. measles cases topped 700 as of last week, as Indiana joined the growing list of states with active outbreaks, Texas tallied dozens of new cases, and a third measles-related death was made public.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed in a televised Cabinet meeting Thursday that measles cases were plateauing nationally, but the virus continues to spread mostly in people who are unvaccinated, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention redeployed a team to west Texas.

The United States has more than double the number of measles cases it saw in all of 2024, and Texas is reporting the majority of them, with 541 as of last week’s updated count.

Texas’ cases include two unvaccinated elementary school-age children who died from measles-related illnesses near the epicenter of the outbreak in rural west Texas, which led Kennedy to visit the community this month. The third person who died was an adult in New Mexico who also was not vaccinated.

Other states with active outbreaks — defined as having three or more cases — include New Mexico, Indiana, Kansas, Ohio and Oklahoma.

The multistate outbreak confirms health experts’ fears that the virus will take hold in other U.S. communities with low vaccination rates and that the spread could stretch on for a year. The World Health Organization has said cases in Mexico are linked to the Texas outbreak.

Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that’s airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. It is preventable through vaccines, and had been considered eliminated from the U.S. in 2000.

Here’s what else you need to know about measles in the U.S.

Texas and New Mexico

Texas’ outbreak began in late January. State health officials said Friday that there were 36 new cases of measles since Tuesday, bringing the total to 541 across 22 counties — most of them in west Texas. A total of 56 Texans have been hospitalized throughout the outbreak.

Of the confirmed cases, state health officials estimated Friday that about 5% are actively infectious.

Sixty-five percent of Texas’ cases are in Gaines County, population 22,892, where the virus started spreading in a close-knit, undervaccinated Mennonite community. The county has logged 355 cases since late January — just over 1% of the county’s residents.

The latest death in Texas was that of an 8-year-old child. Health officials in Texas said the child did not have underlying health conditions and died of “what the child’s doctor described as measles pulmonary failure.” A 6-year-old died of measles in Texas in late February.

New Mexico announced two new cases Friday, bringing the state’s total to 58. State health officials say the cases are linked to Texas’ outbreak based on genetic testing. Most are in Lea County, where two people have been hospitalized, two are in Eddy County and one is in Chaves County.

New Mexico reported its first measles-related death in an adult on March 6.

Kansas

Kansas has 32 cases in eight counties in the southwest part of the state, health officials announced Wednesday. Two of the counties, Finney and Ford, are new on the list and are major population centers in that part of the state. Haskell County has the most with eight cases, Stevens County has seven, Kiowa County has six, and the rest have five or fewer.

The state’s first reported case, identified in Stevens County on March 13, is linked to the Texas and New Mexico outbreaks based on genetic testing, a state health department spokesperson said. But health officials have not determined how the person was exposed.

Oklahoma

Cases in Oklahoma increased by two Friday to 12 total: nine confirmed and three probable cases. The first two probable cases were “associated” with the west Texas and New Mexico outbreaks, the state health department said.

A health department spokesperson said measles exposures were confirmed in Tulsa and Rogers counties, but wouldn’t say which counties had cases.

Ohio

The Ohio Department of Health confirmed 20 measles cases in the state as of Thursday: 11 in Ashtabula County near Cleveland, seven in Knox County and one each in Allen and Holmes counties.

Ohio is not including nonresidents in its count, a state health department spokesperson told the Associated Press. The Knox County outbreak in east-central Ohio has infected 14 people, according to a news release from the county health department, but seven of them do not live in Ohio. In 2022, a measles outbreak in central Ohio sickened 85.

The outbreak in Ashtabula County started with an unvaccinated adult who had interacted with someone who had traveled internationally.

Indiana

Indiana confirmed six connected cases of measles in Allen County in the northeast part of the state; four are unvaccinated minors and two are adults whose vaccination status is unknown.

The cases have no known link to other outbreaks, the Allen County Department of Health said Wednesday. The first case was confirmed April 7.

Elsewhere

Measles cases also have been reported in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont and Washington.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines an outbreak as three or more related cases. The agency counted seven clusters that qualified as outbreaks in 2025 as of Friday.

In the U.S., cases and outbreaks are frequently traced to someone who caught the disease abroad. It can then spread, especially in communities with low vaccination rates. In 2019, the U.S. saw 1,274 cases. So far in 2025, the CDC’s count is 712.

Is a measles booster necessary?

The best way to avoid measles is to get the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. The first shot is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old and the second between 4 and 6 years old.

People at high risk for infection who got the shots many years ago may want to consider getting a booster if they live in an area with an outbreak, said Scott Weaver with the Global Virus Network, an international coalition. Those may include family members living with someone who has measles or those especially vulnerable to respiratory diseases because of underlying medical conditions.

Adults with “presumptive evidence of immunity” generally don’t need measles shots now, the CDC said. Criteria include written documentation of adequate vaccination earlier in life, lab confirmation of past infection or having been born before 1957, when most people were likely to be infected naturally.

A doctor can order a lab test called an MMR titer to check your levels of measles antibodies, but experts don’t always recommend it and health insurance plans may not cover it.

Getting another MMR shot is harmless if there are concerns about waning immunity, the CDC says.

People who have documentation of having received a live measles vaccine in the 1960s don’t need to be revaccinated, but people who were immunized before 1968 with an ineffective measles vaccine made from “killed” virus should be revaccinated with at least one dose, the agency said. That also includes people who don’t know which type they got.

What are the symptoms?

Measles first infects the respiratory tract, then spreads throughout the body, causing a high fever, runny nose, cough, red, watery eyes and a rash.

The rash generally appears three to five days after the first symptoms, beginning as flat red spots on the face and then spreading downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet. When the rash appears, the fever may spike over 104 degrees, according to the CDC.

Most kids will recover from measles, but infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and death.

How can you treat measles?

There’s no specific treatment for measles, so doctors generally try to alleviate symptoms, prevent complications and keep patients comfortable.

Why do vaccination rates matter?

In communities with high vaccination rates — above 95% — diseases like measles have a harder time spreading through communities. This is called herd immunity.

But childhood vaccination rates have declined nationwide since the COVID-19 pandemic, and more parents are claiming religious or personal conscience waivers to exempt their kids from required shots.

The U.S. saw a rise in measles cases in 2024, including an outbreak in Chicago that sickened more than 60.

Shastri writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Laura Ungar contributed to this report.

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