The 2025 Measles Outbreak: A West Texas Doctor’s Fight for Her Patients and a Nation’s Health

For three decades, Dr. Tammy Camp, a pediatrician in Lubbock, Texas, had never treated a measles case. Then, the 2025 Southwest outbreak hit, transforming her practice and the lives of her patients.

“Mothers are crying in my clinic,” Dr. Camp recounted at a National Academy of Medicine update. Their newborns, too young for the measles vaccine, are at risk, adding to the families’ existing anxieties about providing for their children.

Lubbock, though 90 miles from the epicenter in Gaines County, became a major treatment hub, overwhelming local hospitals with pediatric cases. The emotional toll on Dr. Camp and her colleagues is immense: witnessing preventable suffering in children.

While the outbreak appears to be slowing, thanks to community awareness and increased immunity (both from infection and vaccination), the threat isn’t over. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed 1046 cases across 30 states and three deaths by late May—a number surpassed only by the 2019 outbreak since 2000.

The highly contagious nature of measles is a significant challenge. According to Dr. Yvonne “Bonnie” Maldonado, professor of pediatrics and infectious diseases at Stanford University, measles boasts a basic reproduction number (R0) of 12-15, meaning each infected person can infect 12-15 others. Achieving approximately 95% population immunity is crucial to prevent widespread transmission. However, MMR vaccination rates among US kindergarten students dropped to 92.7% in the 2023-2024 school year.

Lubbock Public Health, led by Tiffany Torres, MPH, MS, responded swiftly. They organized mass online meetings for West Texas medical professionals, provided guidance on post-exposure prophylaxis, and boosted vaccination efforts, focusing on areas with low vaccination rates and daycare centers where vulnerable infants are concentrated.

The fight against misinformation is equally crucial. Dr. Heidi Larson, founder of the Vaccine Confidence Project, emphasizes the importance of communication. Her research shows that messaging focused on “protection” and shared responsibility is more effective than appeals to “moral obligation.” Leveraging community leaders and focusing on the positive impacts of vaccination, like returning to cherished activities, proves more persuasive than data-driven approaches alone.

The challenge ahead requires a multifaceted approach: providing accurate information while also connecting with communities on an emotional level, utilizing the influence of trusted figures beyond the medical community, and fostering a sense of shared responsibility to protect the most vulnerable.

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