The Texas health department reported 561 cases of measles in the state on Tuesday, an increase of 20 from April 11, as the U.S. government said it was sending seven people to the state to help battle the outbreak of the childhood disease.
Cases in Gaines County, the center of the outbreak, rose to 364 from 355 reported on Friday, the Texas Department of State Health Services said.
Dr. David Sugerman, from the Division of Viral Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on Tuesday gave a rare update on the U.S. measles outbreak and response during a meeting of a panel of experts who advise the CDC.
He said the response was being hindered by the cancellation of about $11 billion in federal grants to states that were allocated during the COVID-19 pandemic, which were being used to track, prevent and control infectious diseases, including measles and bird flu.
"We are scraping to find the resources and personnel needed to provide support to Texas and other jurisdictions," Sugerman said.
Sugerman told the panel that the CDC had deployed 15 personnel to Texas to respond to the outbreak and provide on-site technical assistance from March 4 through April 1. He said the agency is sending a second team on Tuesday to help with the outbreak.
The CDC has provided infection prevention control systems to seven hospitals and reviewed school infection control strategies. It is providing remote technical assistance to multiple state health departments, he said.
In neighboring Lubbock County, where the state reported 41 cases, a local public health official said in an interview that she became aware of measles in their area in January when two children were hospitalized.
The children had not travelled and the families said the disease had been circulating in Gaines County for some time, Dr. Katherine Wells, director of Lubbock Public Health, said.
"I'm not sure we'll ever know definitively how measles came into this community, but it had definitely been circulating when we found out about it," Wells said.
The outbreak could last a year, she added.
Sugerman said the U.S. could be at risk of losing its measles elimination status if the cases in the outbreak continue to spread past January 20 2026.
Over the course of the outbreak, 58 patients have been hospitalized in Texas, while two unvaccinated children with no underlying health conditions have died of measles in the state.
Nearby New Mexico's health department reported 63 cases on Tuesday, up by five from its last update four days ago. The state also reported one additional hospitalization due to the disease.
The state's Doña Ana County also reported its first case in 2025.
Most of New Mexico's cases are from Lea County, which is adjacent to Gaines County in Texas.
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