Texas health official warns against ‘measles parties’

AUSTIN – The Dallas Morning News reports that a Texas health official is warning against “measles parties” as an outbreak grows in West Texas, resulting in the death of at least one unvaccinated school-aged child. In a press briefing Friday, Dr. Ron Cook, chief health officer for the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, urged families to avoid such gatherings and instead get vaccinated. “We can’t predict who is going to do poorly with measles, being hospitalized, potentially get pneumonia or encephalitis, or potentially pass away from this,” he said, according to multiple news reports. “It’s a foolish thing to go have measles parties.” It is not known if measles parties are actually popping up in West Texas. Asked for more information, Cook said, “It’s mostly been … social media talk.”

Measles parties echo chicken pox parties from decades ago, when people would deliberately expose themselves or others to someone with a confirmed case in an attempt to spread the virus in a controlled environment. The chicken pox vaccine was introduced to the public in 1995, largely ending the practice. Measles is one of the most contagious viruses in the world and spreads mostly among unvaccinated people. Symptoms include a cough, fever, red eyes and the telltale skin rash. Since late January, 146 cases of measles have been identified in Texas, including 20 hospitalizations and one death. Of the 146 cases in Texas, 141 were in people who were either unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. No cases of measles have been reported in Dallas or Fort Worth. Local health officials in Rockwall County — just east of Dallas — reported a single case, but they said it does not appear to be connected to the West Texas outbreak. Doctors said they’re preaching the same thing to every concerned parent: Make sure you and your children are vaccinated. “The most robust way that we have to prevent measles is by the vaccination,” said Dr. Carla Garcia Carreno, the medical director for Infection Prevention and Control at Children’s Medical Center Plano. “It’s a very effective vaccine and it’s a very safe vaccine.”