AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- The measles outbreak continues to spread in Texas as the state's Commissioner of the Department of State Health Services spoke to a committee of lawmakers about the growing distrust of vaccines and the agency's attempts to fight the virus.
The case count is now up to 158 people, according to the latest numbers reported by Dr. Jennifer Shuford, the DSHS Commissioner. She presented those numbers to the Texas House Committee on Public Health as the state faces a measles outbreak it has not seen in 30 years.
"Measles is highly contagious," Dr. Shuford explained. "It's probably the most contagious virus that we know of." She said school-age children between the ages of 5 and 17 are the most impacted group followed by children under the age of four.
One school-aged child died and 20 people have been hospitalized, due to this outbreak, according to Dr. Shuford. A majority of the confirmed cases are located in Gaines County and spreading to the surrounding counties in the South Plains and Panhandle region.
State's response to outbreak
Dr. Shuford said the state set up two specimen collection sites in the most impacted area to help increase the speed of testing for the virus. Most of the testing is being done at a lab in Austin, but DSHS is working with El Paso, Tarrant, and Bexar counties to boost their measles testing capacity at their public health labs.
The state has also set up vaccine sites that operate 7-days a week. "We just want to have vaccine available for whichever providers can give those vaccines, especially in that outbreak community," Dr. Shuford said.
If someone is exposed to the virus the state is trying to get that person a vaccine within 72 hours of exposure. It may prevent that person from being sick or make their symptoms less severe. If the state misses that 72-hour window it is also providing immunoglobulin injections, which is a treatment that puts antibodies in the body to strengthen the immune system.
The agency is also looking at pediatric hospital bed capacity. Part of that is communicating with hospitals around the states to get a look at the available hospital beds, including pediatric ICU beds in the state. Most of the infected people are being hospitalized in Lubbock, and the state is making sure there are beds available in case Lubbock becomes overwhelmed.
Questions over vaccinations
Dr. Shuford reported the state expects the cases to keep growing because of the lack of measles vaccination rates in Texas. The state says the best defense against measles is the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine which has been in use in the United States for more than 50 years.
"We are concerned about our MMR coverage across our state, knowing that it's lower than some other places across the United States, and that this particular region has lower vaccination rates," Dr. Shuford said.
State Rep. John Bucy III, D-Austin asked the commissioner why vaccination rates are so low in some areas of Texas. "What's going on, especially if we've eliminated this disease in 2000," Bucy asked.
"There has been just some decreased interest or distrust in vaccines, and that's caused a decrease in vaccination rates," Dr. Shuford explained. It is part of a growing debate in the country about whether people should vaccinate. The question of whether or not someone should vaccinate themselves has become a political talking point.
"If someone chooses not to get the vaccine, not because of health reasons, but they choose not to get it living in a denser population or community, they're not just impacting their own safety. They could be impacting the safety of their neighbors and their communities, correct," Bucy asked.
"They're allowing it to be able to spread to other people," Dr. Shuford responded.
Rep. James Frank, R - Wichita Falls, followed Bucy's questioning and asked if anyone infected in this outbreak was already vaccinated. Dr. Shuford said yes, but that it is hard to tell how many and if they were people who were given the vaccine after they had already been exposed to the virus.
"I think some of the distrust is caused, I think, in some parts rightly or wrongly by perceived information, or sometimes actual misinformation coming from people in authority," Frank said. "The measles vaccine seems a very clear case something we should do, and yet there are other things that are called vaccines that sometimes I don't think operate like vaccines and don't keep you from getting it."
The DSHS is working with the CDC to promote the use of the MMR vaccine as it fights this recent outbreak.
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