# First Measles death in Texas - Feb, 2025, and now in other parts of the US **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 26, 2025, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834 "2025-02-26T16:56:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/261 "2025-04-15T00:37:25Z")
I’m in my middle 70s, can’t recall which childhood diseases I had, so i got the MMR a couple/three weeks ago. When I set up the CVS appointment online it offered the Moderna booster, so I added that to the same appointment. Now I’m wondering whether I should get the DTaP. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/262 "2025-04-15T00:39:24Z")
Yes, unless you’re sure (as in documented in a medical record) that you’ve had one less than 10 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/263 "2025-04-15T00:40:42Z")
I should probably check how long ago my last tetanus booster was while I’m at it. I used to get the shots when I had horses but it’s been a while. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/264 "2025-04-15T00:51:16Z")
I have a primary care physician who tells me when i need boosters. A couple of years ago i asked about the Tdap, and he said I’d had it quite recently. But keeping track of that is something he does for me. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/265 "2025-04-15T00:54:57Z")
My PCP uses the online EPIC system, as did my previous PCP. It’s also linked to CVS, so all my immunizations show up there in a dashboard. [I just looked, it also has all my weirdo travel vaccinations I got through the office health center, not sure how those got loaded in] ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/266 "2025-04-15T01:01:38Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Now I’m wondering whether I should get the DTaP. I’m getting mine in two weeks, as it’s been 14 years since I got the last one (I also had a replacement MMR shot at that time). ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/267 "2025-04-15T01:52:40Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Now I’m wondering whether I should get the DTaP. Probably can’t hurt. When my stepgrandson and his wife had their baby last August, no one was allowed to visit until they had a DTaP. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/268 "2025-04-15T02:05:58Z")
It doesn’t really hurt (unless you have a needle phobia). Especially if you don’t remember the last time you got a tetanus booster. I consider the extra pertussis protection a bonus, what with the decreasing vaccination rates around the state. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/269 "2025-04-15T02:28:19Z")
In my old town, pertussis outbreaks usually could be traced to the Amish communities in the area. They didn’t prohibit vaccination, but they usually didn’t routinely do it until and unless they were in a situation where they were required to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/270 "2025-04-15T08:43:02Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Darwinism at work here. Unfortunately, their self-immolation can be passed to others nearby. Yeah, this is one of the really horrible parts of it all (I mean, it’s horrible enough that ignorant parents deliberately endanger their own innocent children) - there are people who, for genuine medical reasons, cannot receive vaccines (e.g. people with immune systems deficiencies for whom a live vaccine type might be dangerous) and people for whom vaccines simply don’t work very well (e.g. people on immunosuppressant medications where the medicine is literally undoing the immunity that their body might have acquired from a vaccination). These groups of people are put at greater risk by anti-vaxxers. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/271 "2025-04-15T08:54:37Z")
> **[Reddit - The heart of the internet](https://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/1jziquw/the_conservative_christian_father_of_a_west_texas/?rdt=43363)** Someone could upload the Goofy “I’ll fuckin do it again” meme ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2025, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/272 "2025-04-20T13:14:09Z")
Latest. > **[Texas measles outbreak grows to nearly 600 cases](https://eedition.expressnews.com/infinity/article_popover_share.aspx?guid=fbf1417f-c1cb-4c40-9685-8e29cba50d95&share=true)** > > Texas measles outbreak grows to nearly 600 cases > … > Friday data showed 575 cases where [sic] in unvaccinated individuals. No doubt should be “_were_.” > Measles is highly contagious, so up to 9 in 10 people exposed to the virus will become sick if they are not protected by the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine or a prior infection, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. > … To which I say, _Duh._ 🤦🏽 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/273 "2025-04-24T18:07:18Z")
First measles case in Illinois has been confirmed. > **[Confirmed case of measles in Southern Illinois](https://www.kwqc.com/2025/04/24/confirmed-case-measles-southern-illinois/)** > > Officials said this is the only known case and it’s not considered an outbreak as of Thursday morning. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/274 "2025-04-24T19:55:12Z")
While we’re on the topic of measles, one really crappy consequence of getting them is _immune amnesia_, i.e. your body losing the memory of some of its other immunities. [Immune Amnesia: When Measles Makes Your Body Forget How to Fight Infections](https://news.cuanschutz.edu/department-of-medicine/immune-amnesia-measles#:~:text=How%20common%20is%20immune%20amnesia,be%20impacted%20more%20than%20adults). > **How common is immune amnesia among people sick with measles, and does its commonality differ between adults and children?** > > Virtually everyone who gets measles experiences some level of immune amnesia, but the extent can vary. However, children with severe measles seem to be impacted more than adults. > > **Is immune amnesia more serious for adults or for children?** > > It’s hard to say as there are many variables that also may be in play — including underlying disease states like malnutrition — that can impact a person’s immunity. These conditions, compounded with immune amnesia, may make someone more susceptible to other infections. > > **What are the main dangers or health risks of immune amnesia?** > > It makes you more susceptible to other types of infections. Even if you have survived measles and didn’t end up hospitalized or developing serious complications, you’re now defenseless in terms of other common infections that you might encounter. This is especially true for children, who can face much more severe and complicated infections. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/275 "2025-04-24T22:17:23Z")
Said just in case people sympathetically forget it having been discussed in the thread before! > [@First Measles death in Texas - Feb, 2025](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025/1014834/133): > > And of course, measles destroys immune system memory relating to other pathogens, making patients at risk of additional serious infections. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/276 "2025-04-24T22:23:30Z")
Thanks and sorry! I did miss that, or didn’t understand it when I read it. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/277 "2025-04-24T22:37:59Z")
With the R-naught (risk of transmission) being as high as it is, a single case could almost be considered an outbreak. This case, BTW, was in an adult. This region also has several Amish and Mennonite communities, which has me wondering if that’s where they came from. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/278 "2025-04-24T23:30:25Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > a single case could almost be considered an outbreak A single _identified case_ typically means there is an additional number out there not yet being diagnosed. @Maserschmidt it’s a long thread! I just couldn’t resist the easy pickings joke. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/279 "2025-04-24T23:46:07Z")
I regret that very marginalized religious communities will be blamed for this. When the true fault lies in the right spreading false information on vaccinations. There’s no excuse at this time that anyone should be in a true “outbreak”. It sorta negates all the research, studies and trials that went into development of these ways to combat terrible diseases. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/280 "2025-04-25T03:17:40Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I regret that very marginalized religious communities will be blamed for this. > When the true fault lies in the right spreading false information on vaccinations. Fringe religious communities _deserve_ a considerable share of blame for outbreaks of dangerous vaccine-preventable diseases. It’s not just West Texas Mennonites. A sect of Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn was the epicenter of a 2013 outbreak. A Texas megachurch and North Carolina religious community were involved in other ones. And we have asses like this pastor. > **[Pastor brags about his school having lowest measles vaccination rate](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/texas-pastor-vaccination-rates-children-lowest-b2710324.html)** > > The pastor’s remarks come amid an outbreak of once ‘eliminated’ measles virus that killed an unvaccinated child in West Texas Today on Twitter an antivaxer was questioning the need for rubella vaccination, saying the U.S. has only about 10 cases a year. _Well, why do you think that might be, dipshit?_ [From the CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/rubella/vaccine-impact/index.html): > [@](#): > > During the last major rubella epidemic in the United States from 1964 to 1965, an estimated: > > - 12.5 million people got rubella > - 11,000 pregnant women lost their babies > - 2,100 newborns died > - 20,000 babies were born with congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) > > Once the vaccine became widely used, the number of people infected with rubella in the United States dropped dramatically. “bUt wE dOn’T nEeD THe vAcCiNe!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834.md?page=15)