Measles Is Rising Nationally. Texas Has No Active Outbreak, but 192 Cases This Year.
The CDC counts 4,080 U.S. cases this year. Texas has no active outbreak, and a Texas Tech doctor says the early symptoms are easy to miss.
Measles is climbing across the country. The United States had 4,080 confirmed cases in 2026 as of Oct. 8, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ABC 7 Amarillo reported. As of Oct. 13, the Texas Department of State Health Services had not confirmed an active outbreak in Texas.
The Texas numbers
That does not mean Texas has been spared. The DSHS measles data page, last updated Sept. 16 and still the most recent report when Dock Line checked Oct. 15, lists 192 confirmed cases among Texas residents this year. Most, 136, are in Hudspeth County, with 24 in El Paso County. DSHS notes that some of those cases are among people held in federal detention facilities. Harris (7), Rockwall (6), Bandera (5) and Montgomery (4) counties reported smaller numbers.
Texans remember last year. A West Texas outbreak reached 762 confirmed cases before the state declared it over on Aug. 18, 2025, ABC 7 reported.
Hard to spot early
Dr. Todd Bell, an associate professor at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine, told ABC 7 that measles spreads easily and hides at first.
"Measles is one of the, if not the most contagious virus that we know of that infects people," Bell said.
Symptoms can appear up to three or four weeks after exposure. Early signs are a runny nose, cough, sore throat and fever, which are easy to mistake for allergies, flu or a cold. The rash comes later, so people can spread the virus before they know they have it.
About 30 percent of people with measles develop a complication, Bell said, from ear infections to pneumonia and brain inflammation, and about 1 in 1,000 die.
What to do
If you think you were exposed, call a health care provider quickly. Some preventive treatment must be considered within 72 hours, Bell said.
If you have symptoms, call before you go to a clinic or emergency room so staff can protect babies too young to be vaccinated, pregnant women and people with weak immune systems. Stay home until you are evaluated.
According to DSHS, two doses of the MMR vaccine prevent more than 97 percent of measles infections. Check your family's records with your doctor.
Love your neighbor
Parents have the right and duty to make medical decisions for their children, and they deserve straight facts to make them. The facts here are clear: measles is serious, it spreads fast, and the vaccine works. Calling ahead before walking into a crowded waiting room is a small act of love for the most vulnerable people in it. For more, see our reports on flu in Texas and West Nile cases.
Hero photo: U.S. Air Force/Airman 1st Class Kiaundra Miller, public domain (U.S. government work), cropped and resized.
