Measles cases are spreading rapidly across Kansas, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
In only two days, March 24-26, the number of cases has increased from 10 to 23.
Children are the main targets, the KDHE reported. Of the cases, six are age 4 or younger, while 15 of the cases target those from age 5 to 14.
Of the 23 cases, at least 20 of the victims have not been vaccinated against measles.
Stevens County reported the first measles case for 2025 in early March. Since then, cases have been reported in Morton, Grant, Gray, Haskell, and Kiowa counties.
Kansas last reported a case of measles in 2018. KDHE has established a measles dashboard tracking the number of cases on its website, kdhe.ks.gov.
Cases in Texas now surpass 327, including one fatality, a 6-year-old girl. Before she contracted measles, the Gaines County, Texas, youth seems to have been previously healthy with no underlying conditions. She was not vaccinated against measles.
U.S. cases for the year so far surge past the total tracked in 2024, which was 285, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The most effective protection against measles is the two-shot regimen of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which was first implemented decades ago.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has responded to the outbreak, in part, by suggesting alternatives to vaccination, including treatment with vitamin A, which a vast majority of practicing physicians do not support.
“Vitamin A does not diminish your chance of acquiring a measles infection,” said Donald Karcher, president of the College of American Pathologists and a professor at the George Washington University Medical Center in D.C. “We certainly do not recommend anyone to be self-medicating with vitamin A.”
In West Texas, where the recent outbreak originated, physicians at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, Texas, say they’ve now treated a handful of unvaccinated children who were given so much vitamin A that they had signs of liver damage.
The CDC advises children get their first MMR dose at 12 to 15 months of age, and a second dose at age 4 to 6 years.
Adults are protected against measles if they have had at least one dose of the MMR vaccine, were born before 1957, or have evidence of immunity through a blood test.
The MMR vaccine remains the best true preventive measure against measles, officials said.
It has been shown to be 97% effective at preventing the highly contagious disease as well as associated severe complications. In use for about five decades, the vaccine has been given to millions and data shows severe side effects are rare.
