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El Paso, Juárez confirm first measles cases linked to Texas outbreak [1]
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Date: 2025-04-08
William Beaumont Army Medical Center has confirmed El Paso’s first case of measles connected to the ongoing West Texas and Panhandle outbreak.
The patient was checked in Friday at the Mendoza Soldier Family Care Center on Fort Bliss, according to a Tuesday news release. Amabilia G. Payen, a spokesperson for the medical center, did not provide further details about the patient, including vaccination history.
“That is why prevention is so important,” said Maj. Lacy Male, Army public health
nurse, in the news release. “The measles vaccine is highly effective, and two doses provide 97 percent protection against the disease, making it one of the best tools for prevention. There is no treatment for measles, only supportive therapy. We want to vaccinate to prevent infection altogether.”
Army health officials began contact tracing efforts to mitigate the spread of the disease, and also notified local and state health officials. The El Paso Department of Public Health has not responded to questions from El Paso Matters.
In addition to El Paso’s measles case, Mexican health authorities confirmed four cases of measles, or sarampión, in neighboring Ciudad Juárez as of Monday.
Three unvaccinated people, including two school-aged children with no underlying health conditions, have died from measles this year in Texas and New Mexico. Since late January, the Texas Department of State Health Services has reported more than 500 measles cases including 57 hospitalizations. The outbreak spread from Gaines County, near Lubbock, which is home to a close-knit and under-vaccinated Mennonite community.
The Chihuahua health department has also confirmed nearly 200 cases since March with more than half of those cases concentrated in the city of Cuauhtémoc, where a large Mennonite community resides nearby. The first patient in Chihuahua was a Mennonite youth from Texas visiting Mexico with their family, Norte Digital reported.
Authorities from the Secretaría de Salud Chihuahua give an update on the growing measles outbreak in Chihuahua, Mexico and urge parents to get the MMR vaccine for their children at a press conference March 28, 2025. (Secretaria de Salud Chihuahua Facebook)
The vast majority of measles cases in Texas, New Mexico and Chihuahua are patients who are unvaccinated or who have no known history of vaccination, according to data from their respective health departments.
Measles is highly contagious and spreads from breathing in infectious, respiratory droplets. One infected person can infect up to nine out of 10 unprotected people nearby, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People who are vaccinated can still contract measles, but the illness is more likely to be mild and the person is less likely to infect others.
The state of Colorado reported Monday its first measles case, an unvaccinated infant, after the baby traveled with family to the outbreak area in Chihuahua. The baby was under a year old – younger than the recommended age for vaccination.
El Paso’s last measles outbreak tallied six cases in 2019, all reported on Fort Bliss. William Beaumont Army Medical Center first notified the public about the latest exposure Friday on social media.
Possible Measles Exposure in El Paso The person who tested positive for the virus visited Mendoza Soldier Family Care Center on Fort Bliss on April 4 between 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. The virus can remain in the air up to two hours after the infected person leaves. Anyone who visited the clinic at this time should monitor for symptoms until April 25. Symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and rash that starts at the face. For those who were exposed, William Beaumont Army Medical Center recommends people 6 months or older who are unvaccinated receive the MMR vaccine from their primary care provider or pharmacist within 72 hours of exposure. Those who are vaccinated with two doses of the MMR vaccine do not need a booster, but should monitor for symptoms.
Texas requires two MMR vaccine doses for all children entering kindergarten in public and private schools.
About 96% of El Paso County kindergarteners last school year received the measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, vaccine – higher than the 95% vaccination rate the CDC set as the threshold for herd immunity. By comparison, only 82% of kindergarteners in the outbreak epicenter of Gaines County received the MMR vaccine.
Chihuahua and Juárez health departments launched an immunization campaign in Juárez the last week of March, setting up pop-up vaccination clinics in various commercial and public places throughout the city, as well as schools and government buildings. Chihuahua health authorities did not respond to El Paso Matters’ questions about vaccination rates or future immunization campaigns.
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[1] Url:
https://elpasomatters.org/2025/04/08/first-measles-cases-el-paso-juarez-texas-outbreak/
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