By Rich McKay

(Reuters) – At least 24 cases of measles have been reported in an outbreak in Gaines County, Texas, state officials said, warning that more cases of the highly contagious disease were likely to surface.

None of the infected people in the community, about 90 miles southwest of Lubbock, Texas, and near the New Mexico state line, were vaccinated, the Texas Department of State Health Services said in an alert on February 11. Twenty-two were children and two were adults.

Nine people have been hospitalized.

“Due to the highly contagious nature of this disease, additional cases are likely to occur in Gaines County and the surrounding communities,” the alert said.

Spokespersons for the Texas health department and CDC were not immediately available for comment.

The outbreak marks a jump in the known measles cases in the U.S., with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reporting only 14 other cases in the country so far this year.

Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, meaning there was no continuous transmission of the disease for a year. The virus can spread via travelers from countries where measles is common.

In recent years, federal health officials have attributed some outbreaks to U.S. parents refusing to vaccinate their children, Reuters previously reported.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a vaccine critic who endorsed President Donald Trump, was confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services on Thursday, overcoming resistance from the medical establishment and some members of Congress.

Kennedy, 71, the nephew of 35th U.S. President John F. Kennedy and son of late U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, has pledged to protect existing vaccination programs.

Of the previous 2025 cases, 43% required hospitalization, the CDC has reported. In 2024, there were 285 cases of the disease in the U.S. from 16 outbreaks, up from 59 cases from four outbreaks in 2023.

(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Richard Chang)