Nutriovia

An epidemic of measles which has spread on a strip in western Texas, killing a child, shows no signs of slowdown, according to data published Tuesday by state health officials.

The Ministry of Health of Texas said that since the end of January, nearly 160 people have contracted measles – 20 more cases than Friday – and 22 have been hospitalized.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Tuesday that it Send some of his “disease detectives” in TexasOne of the first steps that the new administration has taken to help manage the epidemic.

The news comes in the midst of the criticism of federal officials for underestimated the need for vaccinations with the measles vaccineOne of the most important tools to suppress an epidemic.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Social Services, described vaccination on Sunday as a personal decision.

In A pre -recorded interview broadcast on Fox News TuesdayHe said the federal government has sent doses of vitamin A to Gaines County in western Texas, and helped organize walking walks.

HHS previously said that officials were also shipping doses of the ROR vaccine, but Mr. Kennedy had not mentioned vaccination.

The doctors had seen “very, very good results,” said Kennedy, treating cases of measles in Texas with a steroid, Budesonide; an antibiotic called clarithromycin; and cod liver oil, which he said had high levels of vitamin A and vitamin D.

While doctors sometimes Administer doses of vitamin A To treat children with cases of severe measles, cod liver oil is “in no case” a treatment based on evidence, said Dr. Sean O’Leary, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics pediatrics committee on infectious diseases.

Dr. O’Leary added that he had never heard of a doctor using the supplement against measles.

In the comments which seemed to refer to conventional guarantees against measles, Mr. Kennedy said: “We are going to be honest with the American people for the first time in history on what – on all tests and all studies, on what we know, what we do not know.”

“We are going to tell them, and it will anger some people who want an ideological approach to public health.”

The dimensions of the current epidemic are not clear. The official case number in the Texas epidemic is probably a sub which said Katherine Wells, director of public health in Lubbock, Texas.

The epidemic has widespread in a community of Gaines County Mennonites, which have historically had lower vaccination rates and often avoid interacting with the health care system.

Wells said that she thought that many of these families had not sought a doctor for measles and had not been recorded in official state figures.

“I think it’s probably in the hundreds,” she said. “We know that some of their schools have been closed with many sick children, but we don’t know who these children were.”

Last year, around 82% of the county’s kindergarten population received the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. Experts say that at least 95% of people in a community should be vaccinated in order to avoid epidemics.

The drop in vaccination rates in the United States has left growing pockets of vulnerable children, which makes an epidemic more likely from one unvaccinated group to another.

Just 93% of kindergarten students Nationwide had received the measles vaccine, mumps and rubella during the 2023-24 school year, against 95% before the pandemic.

“We have greatly benefited as Americans by the fact that these communities were spaced,” said Michael Mina, a former epidemiologist at Harvard and now a chief doctor of Emed.

“One case in one of them can ignite cases in each of them, because you no longer benefit from this space,” he said.

In Texas, measles cases have been confirmed in nine counties, many of which have vaccination rates lower than federal recommendations.

According to recent state data, around 80% of kindergarten students in one of the public school districts in Terry County, which neighbor, were vaccinated for measles. This county reported 22 cases of measles on Tuesday.

A county of the New Mexico which borders the county of Gaines reported nine cases of measles.

While most of the measles are resolved in a few weeks, in rare cases, the virus can cause pneumonia, which makes it difficult for patients, especially children, to obtain oxygen in their lungs or swelling of the brain, which can lead to blindness, deafness and intellectual disabilities.

About one in five people catch measles will be hospitalized, according to the CDC

The virus also weakens the immune system in the long term, which makes its host more sensitive to future infections. A 2015 study revealed that before the ROR vaccine is widely available, measles may have been responsible for half of all deaths by infectious disease in children.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg Contributed reports.

An epidemic of measles which has spread on a strip in western Texas, killing a child, shows no signs of slowdown, according to data published Tuesday by state health officials.

The Ministry of Health of Texas said that since the end of January, nearly 160 people have contracted measles – 20 more cases than Friday – and 22 have been hospitalized.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Tuesday that it Send some of his “disease detectives” in TexasOne of the first steps that the new administration has taken to help manage the epidemic.

The news comes in the midst of the criticism of federal officials for underestimated the need for vaccinations with the measles vaccineOne of the most important tools to suppress an epidemic.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Social Services, described vaccination on Sunday as a personal decision.

In A pre -recorded interview broadcast on Fox News TuesdayHe said the federal government has sent doses of vitamin A to Gaines County in western Texas, and helped organize walking walks.

HHS previously said that officials were also shipping doses of the ROR vaccine, but Mr. Kennedy had not mentioned vaccination.

The doctors had seen “very, very good results,” said Kennedy, treating cases of measles in Texas with a steroid, Budesonide; an antibiotic called clarithromycin; and cod liver oil, which he said had high levels of vitamin A and vitamin D.

While doctors sometimes Administer doses of vitamin A To treat children with cases of severe measles, cod liver oil is “in no case” a treatment based on evidence, said Dr. Sean O’Leary, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics pediatrics committee on infectious diseases.

Dr. O’Leary added that he had never heard of a doctor using the supplement against measles.

In the comments which seemed to refer to conventional guarantees against measles, Mr. Kennedy said: “We are going to be honest with the American people for the first time in history on what – on all tests and all studies, on what we know, what we do not know.”

“We are going to tell them, and it will anger some people who want an ideological approach to public health.”

The dimensions of the current epidemic are not clear. The official case number in the Texas epidemic is probably a sub which said Katherine Wells, director of public health in Lubbock, Texas.

The epidemic has widespread in a community of Gaines County Mennonites, which have historically had lower vaccination rates and often avoid interacting with the health care system.

Wells said that she thought that many of these families had not sought a doctor for measles and had not been recorded in official state figures.

“I think it’s probably in the hundreds,” she said. “We know that some of their schools have been closed with many sick children, but we don’t know who these children were.”

Last year, around 82% of the county’s kindergarten population received the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. Experts say that at least 95% of people in a community should be vaccinated in order to avoid epidemics.

The drop in vaccination rates in the United States has left growing pockets of vulnerable children, which makes an epidemic more likely from one unvaccinated group to another.

Just 93% of kindergarten students Nationwide had received the measles vaccine, mumps and rubella during the 2023-24 school year, against 95% before the pandemic.

“We have greatly benefited as Americans by the fact that these communities were spaced,” said Michael Mina, a former epidemiologist at Harvard and now a chief doctor of Emed.

“One case in one of them can ignite cases in each of them, because you no longer benefit from this space,” he said.

In Texas, measles cases have been confirmed in nine counties, many of which have vaccination rates lower than federal recommendations.

According to recent state data, around 80% of kindergarten students in one of the public school districts in Terry County, which neighbor, were vaccinated for measles. This county reported 22 cases of measles on Tuesday.

A county of the New Mexico which borders the county of Gaines reported nine cases of measles.

While most of the measles are resolved in a few weeks, in rare cases, the virus can cause pneumonia, which makes it difficult for patients, especially children, to obtain oxygen in their lungs or swelling of the brain, which can lead to blindness, deafness and intellectual disabilities.

About one in five people catch measles will be hospitalized, according to the CDC

The virus also weakens the immune system in the long term, which makes its host more sensitive to future infections. A 2015 study revealed that before the ROR vaccine is widely available, measles may have been responsible for half of all deaths by infectious disease in children.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg Contributed reports.

An epidemic of measles which has spread on a strip in western Texas, killing a child, shows no signs of slowdown, according to data published Tuesday by state health officials.

The Ministry of Health of Texas said that since the end of January, nearly 160 people have contracted measles – 20 more cases than Friday – and 22 have been hospitalized.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Tuesday that it Send some of his “disease detectives” in TexasOne of the first steps that the new administration has taken to help manage the epidemic.

The news comes in the midst of the criticism of federal officials for underestimated the need for vaccinations with the measles vaccineOne of the most important tools to suppress an epidemic.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Social Services, described vaccination on Sunday as a personal decision.

In A pre -recorded interview broadcast on Fox News TuesdayHe said the federal government has sent doses of vitamin A to Gaines County in western Texas, and helped organize walking walks.

HHS previously said that officials were also shipping doses of the ROR vaccine, but Mr. Kennedy had not mentioned vaccination.

The doctors had seen “very, very good results,” said Kennedy, treating cases of measles in Texas with a steroid, Budesonide; an antibiotic called clarithromycin; and cod liver oil, which he said had high levels of vitamin A and vitamin D.

While doctors sometimes Administer doses of vitamin A To treat children with cases of severe measles, cod liver oil is “in no case” a treatment based on evidence, said Dr. Sean O’Leary, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics pediatrics committee on infectious diseases.

Dr. O’Leary added that he had never heard of a doctor using the supplement against measles.

In the comments which seemed to refer to conventional guarantees against measles, Mr. Kennedy said: “We are going to be honest with the American people for the first time in history on what – on all tests and all studies, on what we know, what we do not know.”

“We are going to tell them, and it will anger some people who want an ideological approach to public health.”

The dimensions of the current epidemic are not clear. The official case number in the Texas epidemic is probably a sub which said Katherine Wells, director of public health in Lubbock, Texas.

The epidemic has widespread in a community of Gaines County Mennonites, which have historically had lower vaccination rates and often avoid interacting with the health care system.

Wells said that she thought that many of these families had not sought a doctor for measles and had not been recorded in official state figures.

“I think it’s probably in the hundreds,” she said. “We know that some of their schools have been closed with many sick children, but we don’t know who these children were.”

Last year, around 82% of the county’s kindergarten population received the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. Experts say that at least 95% of people in a community should be vaccinated in order to avoid epidemics.

The drop in vaccination rates in the United States has left growing pockets of vulnerable children, which makes an epidemic more likely from one unvaccinated group to another.

Just 93% of kindergarten students Nationwide had received the measles vaccine, mumps and rubella during the 2023-24 school year, against 95% before the pandemic.

“We have greatly benefited as Americans by the fact that these communities were spaced,” said Michael Mina, a former epidemiologist at Harvard and now a chief doctor of Emed.

“One case in one of them can ignite cases in each of them, because you no longer benefit from this space,” he said.

In Texas, measles cases have been confirmed in nine counties, many of which have vaccination rates lower than federal recommendations.

According to recent state data, around 80% of kindergarten students in one of the public school districts in Terry County, which neighbor, were vaccinated for measles. This county reported 22 cases of measles on Tuesday.

A county of the New Mexico which borders the county of Gaines reported nine cases of measles.

While most of the measles are resolved in a few weeks, in rare cases, the virus can cause pneumonia, which makes it difficult for patients, especially children, to obtain oxygen in their lungs or swelling of the brain, which can lead to blindness, deafness and intellectual disabilities.

About one in five people catch measles will be hospitalized, according to the CDC

The virus also weakens the immune system in the long term, which makes its host more sensitive to future infections. A 2015 study revealed that before the ROR vaccine is widely available, measles may have been responsible for half of all deaths by infectious disease in children.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg Contributed reports.