What you should know about the outbreak of US masers
The MMR vaccine administration -prep is shown during a trip in the Ministry of Health of the City of Lubbock in Lubbock, Texas, USA, February 27, 2025.
Annie Rice | Reuters
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I am here to bring you the latest outbreak of measles in the United States
The nation declared measles to remove measles 25 years ago, which means that thanks to a highly effective vaccine, there was no continuous transfer of the disease for more than a year. But now one of the worst outbreaks has been concentrated in West texas, with cases to New Mexico and now Oklahoma.
Here are these cases:
- So far, 259 cases of measles in the West Texas outbreak have been confirmed, and at least one child non -vaccinated has died, according to the state’s Ministry of Health. Most cases – 201 – were in children and teenagers.
- New Mexico has the second highest number of cases at 35, and the outbreak led to the death of an unimaginated adult, the state said.
- According to the state’s Ministry of Health, there have been four reported cases in Oklahoma.
- In more than a dozen other countries, some isolated cases were reported that were not related to the outbreak into Texas.
The number of confirmed cases in the United States already surpasses the 285, which was reported nationwide in all 2024. Show data from the centers for the control and prevention of diseases. Nevertheless, the CDC says that the nationwide measles risk remains low and that vaccination is the key to prevention.
The problem, however, has declined the immunization rates for measles, mumps and rubella vaccines -known as MMR -in almost every US state since the Covid pandemic.
Experts in health policy and public health have informed CNBC that the lower absorption of these shot and other routine vaccinations in childhood could be attributed to several factors. This includes a larger vaccine hesitation due to misinformation and controversy around the Covid vaccine and more distrust of civil servants of public health and their requirements.
In all four full The school years since the beginning of the pandemic, the MMR vaccination rate has dropped by 95%under the target rate “Healthy People 2030”. This refers to the level that is necessary to prevent the transfer of measles in the community, a very contagious and fatal virus.
During the 2023-2024 school year alone, around 280,000 school children were not vaccinated and unprotected against measles, according to the CDC.
Clusters of non -vaccinated people in a certain community increase the risk of an outbreak of illness. Health experts have announced CNBC. For example, the vaccination rate for childhood for measles in Gaines County, the epicenter of the current outbreak in Texas, is just under 82%.
Sherry Andrews, on the right, holds the 13 month old Jaqi Herrera’s hand after the first MMR vaccine dose has been administered to Herrera in the Ministry of Health of the City of Lubbock in Lubbock, Texas, USA, February 27, 2025.
Annie Rice | Reuters
A group of doctors believe that the national recommendation for the MMR vaccine should be updated, according to an article published on Friday in the Medical Journal Jama.
The group, which includes former CDC director Rochelle Walensky, said the recommendations should include a third dose for infants for 6 months Up to 11 months old who travel to a region, with a greater probability of a measles exposure. In particular, some local and state jurisdiction have already started.
The doctors wrote that “several youngest US mason outbreaks in connection with low vaccination rates signal a growing domestic danger”.
“The modernization of vaccination recommendations … will better protect the endangered communities and the strongest endangered US population-situations from measles,” they added.
According to the group of doctors, infants who are younger than 1 year are an increased risk of severe measles complications such as pneumonia, swelling of the brain and death.
The CDC currently recommends that all children receive two doses of the MMR vaccine. It starts with a first dose between the ages of 12 and 15 months and a second dose between the ages of 4 and 6.
A dose is 93% effective and two doses are 97% effective, according to the CDC. There are only a few special cases for a third dose.
In the meantime, Robert F. Kennedy JR, who heads the Ministry of Health and Human Services, has spread incorrect information about the MMR vaccine.
Kennedy, a prominent vaccine skeptic, told Fox News last week that the MMR shot every year causes deaths and “diseases that cause themselves”, such as blindness and inflammation of the brain.
But the Infectious Disease Society of America said that there were “no deaths in connection with measles, mumps and rubella in healthy people”. “The organization said that there were only rare cases of deaths in immunocompromised children.
Kennedy has also promoted unconventional treatment schemes for measles, including cod liver oil, which is rich in vitamin A, said that experts in health are not intended for treating measles.
We will continue to follow the measles outbreak, so let’s stay on our updates.
Feel free to send Annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com tips, suggestions, ideas and data to Annika.
The latest in the healthcare system Tech: Google is divided into the examination of products for health products
This is Ashley, who reports live from New York City!
I’m at GoogleToday’s offices for the company’s annual health event called Check-up. A number of Google executives, including the Chief Health Officer Dr. Karen Desalvo, entered the stage to talk about the company’s work in the industry last year.
The greatest news for consumers like me were the updates for Google search. The company presented a new feature entitled “What people suggest”, the artificial intelligence used to bring online comments on online comments with similar diagnoses. If a patient with arthritis wants to learn more about how other people with the condition of the disease can think about this function, for example. It will be available on mobile devices in the USA from Tuesday.
Google said it also had its willingness to know or the information that appears in addition to the search results to cover “thousands” more health issues. The panels come to new countries and in additional languages, including Spanish, Japanese and Portuguese, starting with mobile devices.
The company has introduced APIS for medical documents in its Health Connect platform, with which Android users can pass on data across various apps and devices. An API that stands for the application programming interface enables different apps to communicate with each other. With the new Google APIs, apps can read and write medical data sets such as medication, vaccinations, allergies and laboratory results in a safe format.
Last month, Google announced that the US Food and Drug Administration is the loss of impulse detection for its Pixel Watch 3, which can call emergency services when a person’s heart stops. During the event on Tuesday, Google said that the function for users in the USA was available until the end of the month.
The big topic of the keynote was AI, in which Google has concentrated a large part of its innovation efforts in the healthcare system in recent years.
The work of the company within the medical sector has developed over time, especially since it tried to arrest a permanent business strategy for health care. Google created a formal health unit from 2018, but was dissolved in 2021.
“With extraordinary progress in the AI, we have the opportunity to reinterpret the entire health experience,” said Desalvo at the event.
On Tuesday, Google announced Txgemma to accelerate the drug discovery process. The company emphasized its work on the protein forecast model called Alphafold, which brought in the Nobel Prize for Chemistry last year.
Read more about everything Google announced here during the review.
Feel free to send tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Ashley at Ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.
