(Reuters) – The Texas health department reported 717 cases of measles in the state on Tuesday, an increase of eight since its last update on Friday, as the U.S. battles one of the worst outbreaks of the childhood disease in the country.
Cases in Gaines County, the epicenter of the outbreak, rose to 405 from 403 since the last update, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Texas had reported seven additional cases in the last update on Friday, which was the lowest increase since the outbreak began in February.
New Mexico’s health department reported 71 cases, unchanged from its last update. Most of the state’s cases are from Lea County, adjacent to Gaines County in Texas.
Federal data released on Friday showed that the number of measles cases in the country exceeded 1,000 for the first time in five years. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 1,001 measles cases in 31 jurisdictions, as of May 8.
Researchers have warned that the country is at a tipping point for the return of endemic measles, a quarter century after the disease was declared eradicated in the country.
(Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas, Tasim Zahid and Sahal Muhammed)
