A measles outbreak in an space of Texas with abysmal vaccination charges continues to mushroom, with instances doubling since Tuesday and increasing into further counties.

Every week in the past, officers reported nine confirmed cases in Gaines County, on the border of New Mexico, which has one of many lowest vaccination charges amongst kindergartners within the state at simply about 82 percent. On Tuesday, the cases climbed to 24, all in Gaines. In Friday’s replace, the state well being division reviews that the case count has now reached 48 and spread to three nearby counties, which even have vaccination charges beneath the 95 p.c threshold that stop vaccine-preventable illnesses from spreading onward.

Gaines now reviews 42 instances. There’s one case reported in Lynn County to the northeast, which has a 91 p.c vaccination fee. Terry County, with a vaccination fee of 94 p.c, reviews three instances, and Yoakum County, with a vaccination fee of 92.5 p.c, reviews two instances. Terry and Yoakum are each straight north of Gaines.

As earlier than, all instances are in unvaccinated individuals or individuals with unknown vaccination standing. Of the 48 instances, 42 are in youngsters, together with 13 between the ages of 0 and 4. 13 individuals (27 p.c) have been hospitalized.