Texas Measles Outbreak Nears 100 Cases - Can Artificial Intelligence Help Track

With reporting nearly 100 cases, the Texas measles outbreak is growing, and this is raising concerns about this contagious disease. According to the experts, the main reason behind this outbreak may be the low vaccination rate or the undetected community transmission. This resurgence is elevating the need for advanced disease surveillance technologies, and artificial intelligence is the most prominent way to deal with the situation, to make people aware of it, and to suggest possible measures to deal with the issue.

Measles Outbreak: 100 Cases in Texas

In the two US states, that are Texas and Mexico, health officials are alarming the people about the serious number of cases of the measles outbreak. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, till Friday, 90 cases of measles were diagnosed only in the South Plains area. These are the officially reported cases of the northwest part, creating an alarming situation because out of these 90, the age of 77 cases is under 17. Most children are getting these diseases.

On the other hand, New Mexico, presented on the other side of the border from Texas, is influenced by the situation, and there, nine cases have been reported till now. Talking about the situation, many experts say that the situation may be because of the anti-vaccination sentiments of the people in the areas regarding the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. The less awareness or education is leading towards this chronic disease situation.

The health officials and workers are afraid of the situation and estimate that more than these are underestimated cases, as many parents usually do not report the disease or maybe they don’t have any idea about the disease in their children.

Dr. Amesh Adalja is an infectious disease physician and also working as a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins University, was talking to CBS News and showed his concerns about the situation:

It is troubling because this was completely preventable. It’s the most contagious infectious disease known to humans.

In Gaines County, the concentration of the cases is high, and the number of patients crossing the 57 is a big danger. The vaccination rate in such areas is very low, leading to high numbers of disease cases. The data received through the latest technologies says that 17.62% of students had the conscientious exemption in the 2023-2024 school year. In 2013-14, the rate was 7.45% for the same reason.

In the same period, Terry Country recorded a 0% to 3.73% rate, and 20 measles cases were reported in the same years as we have discussed the Gaines County.

Albert Pilkington, CEO of the Seminole Hospital District, was talking about the religious beliefs and low vaccination rate in the areas, like large Mennonite communities. He says:

We respect everyone’s right to vaccinate or not get vaccinated. That’s just what it means to be an American, right?

Artificial Intelligence Can Help Contain Measles Outbreaks

The latest technologies, like artificial intelligence, help medical experts diagnose, handle, and fight issues like measles. The AI models are utilized to deal with real-time data from hospitals, communities, and even from social media. It reads the patterns and health records of the people to analyze the outbreak hotspot and to aware the experts and other people aware of the situation.

AI is the backbone of multiple systems dealing with disease or alarming situations; therefore, Weborik Hub encourages people to integrate AI into their work and provides the service to do so.