Harris County Public Health has confirmed three cases of the measles in Harris County. The patients are two boys under the age 2 and a woman. All three patients live in northwest Harris County.
These cases make six confirmed reports of the measles in Texas just this year, according to ABC13.
Measles is a highly contagious virus spread through the air or direct contact. Measles symptoms can start with a fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and sore throat.
This adds to the national measles outbreak seen across the county. In just Washington state, there have been more than 45 confirmed cases of measles this year alone.
Two states experiencing a measles outbreak, Washington and Oregon, allow parents to opt out of vaccines simply because they want to.
And while they hate to say "I told you so," pediatricians, well, told them so.
"I've been saying now for the last couple of years [that] it's only a matter of time before we see a horrific measles outbreak in the Pacific Northwest," said Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development.
All states require immunizations for children to attend school. Forty-seven states -- all but California, Mississippi and West Virginia -- allow parents to opt out of vaccines if they have religious beliefs against immunizations, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Among those 47 states, 18 states also allow parents to opt out of vaccines if they have personal, moral or philosophical beliefs against immunizations.
Oregon and Washington are among these states that allow for personal belief exemptions. The other 16 are Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin and Vermont.
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