TEXAS  — The Texas Department of State Health Services this week reported two confirmed cases of measles in Gaines County. The patients are school-aged children who were hospitalized in Lubbock and have since been released.

The health department earlier in January reported two cases in Harris County involving patients who are unvaccinated.

What You Need To Know

  • The Texas Department of State Health Services has reported four confirmed cases of measles in January. Two of them involved school-aged kids

  • These are the first confirmed cases in Texas since 2023

  • Measles is highly contagious and is spread by direct contact with infectious droplets or by airborne spread when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes

  • The cases come as Texas lawmakers consider bills to weaken vaccine mandates

These four cases are the first confirmed in Texas since 2023.

Because measles is highly contagious, it is likely that there are more cases in Texas.

Measles, health experts say, is a respiratory illness that can be life-threatening to anyone not protected against the virus. It can be transmitted by direct contact with infectious droplets or by airborne spread when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes.

Early symptoms include high fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes. A few days later, a rash breaks out. Red spots appear on the face and spread down the neck and to the rest of the body.

A person is contagious for approximately four days before a rash appears.  

“People who think they have measles or may have been exposed to measles should isolate themselves and call their health care provider before arriving to be tested,” the Texas Department of State Health Services said in a news release.

The state health department stressed that the best way to protect against measles is to be immunized with two doses of a measles-containing vaccine. This is typically administered as the combination measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, vaccine. Two doses of the MMR vaccine prevent more than 97% of measles infections, the Texas Department of State Health Services said.

The measles infections come as Texas lawmakers have filed several bills to weaken vaccine mandates and Texas families opt out of immunizations.

A study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released last summer, found the immunization of children born between 1994 and 2023 has saved the United States $540 billion by preventing illness and costly hospitalizations as well as preventing more than 1.1 million deaths.

Most Texas children are vaccinated. More than 90% of kindergarten and seventh grade students had each of the required vaccines, The Associated Press reported.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.