A measles outbreak in the US states of Texas and New Mexico continues to grow, with more than 300 cases confirmed, according to numbers Tuesday released by officials.
The majority of confirmed cases are in Texas, where the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) reported 279 cases. In the neighboring state of New Mexico, officials have confirmed 38 cases, bringing the total to 317 across both states. That number surpasses the 285 cases in the US last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Gaines County, Texas, which is the epicenter of the outbreak, has experienced the majority of the cases, but the virus has spread to Lea County, New Mexico. Both counties sit directly across from each other on the Texas-New Mexico border.
Two deaths have been reported since the outbreak began in late February -- an unvaccinated child in Texas and an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico. The fatalities are the first measles deaths in the US in a decade.
The majority of cases have infected individuals, mostly children, who have not been vaccinated, with 36 people hospitalized in Texas and two in New Mexico.
Measles is a highly contagious respiratory illness that is spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes, and infectious droplets travel through the air to others. The virus can remain infectious for up to two hours after an infected person leaves the area.
Symptoms include high fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes. A few days later, a trademark rash breaks out on the infected person, where flat, red spots show up on their face, then spread to the neck and eventually the rest of the body.
There are no antiviral medications or treatments for the disease, but health officials recommend the best way to prevent the virus is to get immunized with two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, which is usually administered to children as early as 1 year old, with the second shot given between the ages of 4 and 6. Health officials say the MMR vaccine is 97% effective against measles and only needs to be administered once in a lifetime.
Texas and New Mexico have been offering the vaccination. DSHS officials emphasized that it takes 14 days after the shot for one to develop immunity.
