The recent outbreak of measles in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico has public health departments in our region on alert. KVNF's Lisa Young spoke with Leah Rawson, Delta County Public Health nurse, on Wednesday, February 26, 2025 about the current outbreak in the Southwest and what you need to know.
Leah Rawson: So at this point, as far as that outbreak in Texas goes, we know that there's 124 cases. We did learn just today (Wednesday, February 26) through the news that there has been one death of a school-aged child. So it's very concerning and one of the reasons that they're having that outbreak is because they had a very low vaccination rate in that community. That's how it began.
So we here in Delta County, if we look at our school population, we have statistics from the 2024 year. And so our immunization rate for measles, mumps, rubella, is 78.4% and that puts us at a very high risk for an outbreak.
Lisa Young: What is kind of the goal if you had a goal for Delta County where you'd like the people to be vaccinated for measles, mumps, and rubella?
Rawson: So 95% would be the best that we could probably get to and that would put us at a very small risk. Even getting to 90% would increase that. The majority (of people) who are not vaccinated are due to exemptions, which is something that we can't really change. What we can do is communicate to the public about the vaccine, how safe it is, the ages and that they should get vaccinated and just encourage folks to do that. We do not want children to be affected by this. We do not want an outbreak here. We want to protect our community.
Young: What can you tell me about measles? I understand it's one of the highest, as far as being contagious, viruses out there and that it can spread very quickly. You could be someone who is carrying it for maybe four days or so before you know.
Rawson: Yeah, you are correct on the four days. So somebody could have measles and be contagious. Although they do not have symptoms and the symptoms could show up four days later at that point they would know they were contagious. Even if they were in a room and you came into the room later, it's in that room for two hours. So it's one of the most contagious diseases that we have.
Young: What would be some of the symptoms in someone who has been infected with measles? How does it begin and how does it progress?
Rawson: So it would be the typical symptoms that you would get with a virus, which would start with a fever, a cough. You could have red watery eyes. You could have what's called koplik spots, which are white spots that appear inside the mouth and on the cheeks. And then, of course, at the point where that rash appears, most people know, you know, like something is terribly wrong. But the fever typically would be, it would be all those viral symptoms that would be happening. But it's that rash that really.
Young: That really kind of gives it away. And if anyone has seen pictures of it, it's pretty distinct of what it looks like. If someone were to be infected with measles, what's the next course of action that they should take?
Rawson: They should notify their health care provider. They should not go into any building. They should not go there and tell them that they think they have measles. They should call them ahead of time and tell them what's going on so that they can be prepared to provide an environment where it's safe and nobody else is exposed. Disposed.
Young: Does this even apply to the emergency room?
Rawson: They should call the emergency room, yes, because some of these folks may, you know, with measles need to go to the emergency room. They could be that ill.
Young: Wow, this is really concerning. Just talking about it makes me feel a little bit uneasy. I understand that it is also a live vaccine, so there are certain folks in the population who would not be able to get a booster if they wanted to. Is that correct?
Rawson: That is correct. Anybody who has a condition that causes certain immunocompromising conditions Folks that have had organ transplants, folks that have had stem cell transplants, blood cancers. Those are the ones I can think of right off hand that cannot receive live vaccines ever.
Young: If people want to get the vaccine, are they able to do that here at the Public Health?
Rawson: Yes, we do have it available and we have it for All ages, you know, if somebody of an older age never received it or wasn't sure about their vaccination record, they can receive the vaccine also, but typically Age one would be the first dose and then age four to six would be the second dose and that provides 97% effectiveness with the two doses.
Delta County Public Health:
255 W 6th St, Delta, CO 81416
Phone: (970) 874-2165
