The Texas Department of State Health Services has issued guidance to schools as the measles outbreak in Gaines County rises to 15 cases, mostly in children.

More than a dozen cases of measles have been reported in a small West Texas county that has one of the state’s highest vaccine exemption rates. In Gaines County, which has a population of about 22,000, 15 cases of the airborne infectious disease have been reported since late January. Most of them are unvaccinated, school-aged children.

On January 30, officials reported two measles cases in unvaccinated, school-age children in Gaines County, which sits at the border of New Mexico and is around 90 miles southwest of Lubbock, Texas. Both children were hospitalized in Lubbock and had been discharged.

Fears of an increasing measles outbreak among children are rising in Texas, as most of the population is reportedly unvaccinated.

An outbreak of measles in West Texas has been reported by the Texas Dept. of State Health Services. 10 cases have been identified and seven of those have been hospitalized. Eight of the cases are among school-aged children.

A small county in West Texas has 15 measles cases, mostly in school-aged children. Gaines County, which borders New Mexico, has one of the highest rates of vaccine exemptions in the state.

A measles outbreak is growing in a Texas county with dangerously low vaccination rates. In late January, two school-age children from Gaines County were hospitalized with measles. Since an estimated 1 in 5 people with the disease end up in the hospital, the two cases suggested a larger outbreak.

Texas Health and Human Services reports that seven children have been hospitalized with the disease. All were unvaccinated.