With 762 measles cases confirmed as of Tuesday, Katherine Wells, Director of Lubbock Public Health, provided an update on the West Texas measles outbreak to EverythingLubbock.com.
On Wednesday, Wells said that Lubbock County had gone nearly 60 days without a measles case and Gaines County had gone almost 42 days without a measles case.
“Why 42 is an important number is we’re looking at two cycles of the disease. The incubation period for measles is 21 days, so if we can go two incubation periods without a case, then we can say that that county is now measles-free,” Wells explained.
Health officials saw an uptake of vaccines in Lubbock County, giving over 3,000 more MMR vaccines than would have been expected during the same time period last year, Wells shared.
Wells warned, however, that while public health officials were seeing a slowdown in cases across the state of Texas they were still seeing a resurgence of measles across the United States and into Mexico and Canada.
“This is more measles than we’ve ever seen my entire public health career,” Wells said. “So that is concerning.”
Ahead of a new school year, what measures are being taken to protect children from Measles?
While school nurses and daycares are prepared for potential measles cases, Wells advised caution because, “it only takes somebody going to vacation or away and being exposed and bringing measles back to our community.”
She recommended that anyone who has not yet been vaccinated, do so.
“And really the message is that we need to keep getting keeping our vaccine rates up in our local communities so that we can prevent the spread of it here,” added Wells.
If I’ve already received the MMR vaccine before, should I get revaccinated?
“Nothing would hurt you from getting it but if you received your two vaccines as a child, met those Texas requirements for going to school, there’s no need to get revaccinated unless it’s really a recommendation of your physician,” Wells explained.
To see the latest Measles Outbreak update from the Texas Department of State Health Services, click here.
