Texas officially warns against “measles parties” against the background of the growing outbreak

Texas health authority is warning against the “morlism parties” as Western Texas grow to At least 146 caseswith 20 hospitalized and An unvaccinated child in school age deadS The outbreak continues to be mainly in unvaccinated children.

At a briefing in the press, hosted by the city of Lyubbok, Texas, on Friday, Ron Cook, Chief Health Officer at the Center for Health Sciences of Texas Vacoy at Lubbock, offered a great warning about Texas in his introductory statements.

“What I want to hear is: it’s not a good idea to go to have measles parties, because what can happen is – we can’t predict who will deal with measles badly, be hospitalized, potentially obtaining pneumonia or encephalitis, and or retreat,” Cook said. “So this is a stupid idea to go to a measles party. The best thing is to make sure you are vaccinated. “

Lubbock sits about 90 miles northwest of the outbreak epicenter In Gaines Countywhich is one of the most vaccinated cities of the state. He has recorded 98 out of 146 cases of the hearth. While Lubbock reports only two out of 146 cases, patients from other places have been treated at Lubbock. This includes the first two cases in the hearth, as well as the child who died from the infection earlier this week, which is not a resident of Lubbock.

It is unclear whether any measles parties appear in Gaines or elsewhere. “It’s mostly … Social media conversations,” Cook said in response to a subsequent question from ARS. He noted that the measles parties and chicken pox parties were more commonly found in decades ago, before vaccines were available for both diseases. But he warned again of the dangers today. “Please don’t do that. It’s just nonsense; He plays a roulette, “he said.

Cook, along with Lubbock Director for Public Health, Catherine Wales, said they did not see the end of the outbreak view, which now covers nine counties in Texas, many of which have low vaccination rates. “This hearth will continue to grow,” Wales said, refusing to predict how high the ultimate case could be counted after a reporter raised the possibility of several hundred.

So far, 116 out of 146 cases are under 18 years of age, with 46 being 4 or floor. Only five of the 146 were vaccinated with at least one dose of measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR).

Messages

On a more positive note, Wales reported that the hearth seemed to have glued some parents to the vaccine to get vaccination for their children. Right yesterday, more than 50 children entered the city clinic for measles vaccine clinic. Eleven of these children had vaccine exempts, which means that their parents had previously undergone the state process to release their child from the need to receive routine children’s vaccines to attend school. “Which is a really good sign; This means that our message comes out there, “Wales said.

So far, in the epidemic that has erupted in late January, reports on the disease and the importance of vaccination come exclusively from state and local authorities. Disease Control and Prevention Centers are only released Brief statement Late Thursday, which was not sent through the Agency’s press distribution list. However, this noted that “vaccination remains the best protection against measles infection.”

During the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, US Secretary of State and a lawyer against the vaccine Robert F. Kennedy Jr. answered a question about the hearth, offering a variety of inaccurate information. Kennedy downplayed the hearth, falsely claims that “not uncommon”. In fact, this is an unusual year for measles in the United States. As epidemiologist Katelin Jatellina noted to Bluesky, the number of cases of American measles this year already has exceeded the total number of eight of the previous 15 yearsS And this is only February.