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 rural area of West Texas where vaccination rates are well below the recommended level.

According to the Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Rule §97.7, schools and childcare settings shall exclude unimmunized children for at least 21 days after the last date the unimmunized child was exposed to a measles case.

After two measles cases were identified in Houston; an outbreak has been reported in West Texas. Doctors say it's a concerning trend.

West Texas faces a measles outbreak, with 10 unvaccinated people infected, mostly children. Health officials expect more cases and emphasize the importance of the MMR vaccine as vaccination rates fall and exemption requests rise in Texas.

Measles cases are growing in West Texas and health officials are sounding the alarm about the outbreak that we are seeing and the possibility that the outbreak will grow larger. Last week we reported on two cases from Gaines County that were children who weren't vaccinated against measles and were being hospitalized in Lubbock hospitals.

Public health practitioners warn that measles outbreaks like the one hitting children in Texas will become more common because of scores of laws around the United States — pending and passed — that ultimately lower vaccine rates.

Health officials in Texas are battling a growing measles outbreak in an area that has some of the state's lowest vaccination rates and highest non-medical exemptions. On January 30, officials reported two measles cases in unvaccinated,