Measles Outbreak, Foreign Aid Cuts, Bolsonaro Charges
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What is the current measles situation in Texas?
People around Lubbock, Texas are watching the spread of measles.
Could it grow? Absolutely it could.
Other places have seen it too. So what's behind the return of a disease health officials once thought they had eradicated?
I'm Leila Faudel, that's Steve Inskeep, and this is Up First from NPR News. It's common for countries like China to criticize U.S. efforts to spread democracy. Now, democracy advocates say the Trump administration speaks the same way.
The geopolitical information warfare is no longer something that's happening halfway across the world, but is happening within our own governments.
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Also, Brazilian authorities filed charges against a former president for a coup attempt. Do they put a former president on trial? Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day. Measles is spreading across parts of West Texas.
Health officials thought they had eradicated this disease 25 years ago, but it's occasionally returned most recently to five counties around Lubbock, Texas.
Which is where we find Samantha Larned of our member station KTTZ. Samantha, good morning. Good morning. What's it like there?
There is a lot of anxiety around this. In the past week, measles cases have more than doubled. We now have 58 confirmed cases here in Lubbock. It's just one, but it's the first one the city has seen in more than 20 years. Zach Holbrooks is the executive director of South Plains Public Health District, which serves Gaines County. And Terry County, outside of Lubbock, where most of these cases are being reported, he expects cases to continue rising.
Could it grow? Absolutely it could. We're trying to educate and get as much information out as possible so that people realize what the stakes are.
A majority of the cases are among school-age children, and the state health department says most of the measles patients are either unvaccinated or have an unknown vaccine status. Measles can be dangerous, even deadly, especially for babies and children.
Okay, you mentioned vaccines there. Do health authorities feel they understand how this particular outbreak got going?
Public health officials have described communities in Gaines County as vaccine hesitant. The vaccination rate there is just under 82 percent as compared to the state of Texas, which has a vaccination rate of 90 percent. Catherine Wells is the director of public health here in Lubbock, where there is that one case. And she says the process of confirming measles cases is a lot quicker in a city than in those remote rural areas like Seminole, which is an hour and a half away from here. where a majority of those cases have occurred.
The quickest way to get that measles test done is in the state public health lab in Austin, which is fine when you're in Lubbock because we have overnight delivery to Austin.
Okay, I guess she's saying that it's a little bit harder to catch up to this disease and track and isolate it when you're in some of the rural areas. I'd like to know, though, is this outbreak in West Texas representative of things going on around the country?
Well, like Texas in the past month, there's been cases in Georgia, Rhode Island, New York City and Alaska. And this is all coming as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is getting started leading the Health and Human Services Department. Kennedy was critical of the measles vaccine for years before he was nominated. Health officials say the vaccine is 97 percent effective at preventing measles even after exposure. Some of the people who are at risk are those with compromised immune systems, like pregnant people and babies under one year old who can't receive the vaccine. Dr. Ron Cook is the health authority for the city of Lubbock, and he says the vaccine is safe.
I tell my pediatric moms and dads. If they get a rash after the MMR, it's okay. It's not measles. It's just your body's reaction to the vaccine.
There haven't been any deaths so far with this outbreak, but providers are concerned about continued spread from those who might not know that they have measles. And MMR vaccines are available across the state.
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