The measles outbreak in Tarrant County has jumped to neighboring Denton County, where five new cases were reported Wednesday.
The toll has grown to 20 cases since last Thursday, when Tarrant’s health department reported the first two.
Fifteen of the measles cases are in Tarrant, including four confirmed Wednesday.
“We are on high alert as we’ve seen case counts can cross county lines overnight,” said Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services.
All 20 measles cases so far have been traced to the 1,500-member Eagle Mountain International Church in northeast Tarrant County, health officials said.
The outbreak appears to be occurring within a group of families that has chosen not to get vaccinated, officials said.“This will spread fast among pockets of unvaccinated people,” Williams said.
Of the 15 cases in Tarrant County, 11 of the infected people were not immunized against the measles. In Texas, that’s rare. Almost 98 percent of students are vaccinated against the measles when they enter kindergarten, a state requirement for public and private schools, according to the state health department. About 1 percent of students obtain “conscientious exemptions” for all vaccinations.
In this outbreak, all the infected children in Tarrant County were being home-schooled, said Al Roy, a spokesman for the health department.
The measles outbreak originated from a man who traveled to Indonesia on a mission trip where he was exposed to the infectious disease.
Upon his return, he visited the Eagle Mountain church, which is about 50 miles northwest of Dallas. The church’s risk manager, Robert Hayes, said the man, who was not a member of the church, shook hands and gave hugs to many others.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20130821-more-measles-cases-linked-to-tarrant-county-megachurch.ece
Well at least it wasn't smallpox
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