{"id":434727,"date":"2026-09-13T13:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T13:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/434727\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T13:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T13:00:14","slug":"travis-county-confirms-second-measles-case-of-2026-in-unvaccinated-infant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/434727\/","title":{"rendered":"Travis County confirms second measles case of 2026 in unvaccinated infant"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Austin Public Health has confirmed the second measles case in Travis County this year, involving an infant who was too young to get vaccinated and was likely exposed while traveling internationally, health officials said.<\/p>\n

The patient visited two Austin-area clinics while infectious, according to health officials: Vik Complete Care Lakeway in Lakeway on Sept. 5, and Texas Children’s Pediatrics Hill Country Pediatrics in Austin on Sept. 8. Austin Public Health and the clinics are notifying potentially exposed patients and providing risk assessments, and Texas Children’s has already reached all affected families, officials said.<\/p>\n

Because both exposure sites were medical practices, investigators can identify who was in each lobby, Austin Public Health epidemiologist Heather Cooks-Sinclair said. Her team is contacting those patients, checking their vaccination status and monitoring them for symptoms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have somebody who may have been to the grocery store, or if they went to the movies, it\u2019s a lot harder to know who in that room could have been exposed,\u201d Cooks-Sinclair said.<\/p>\n

Luckily, Cooks-Sinclair says they know all the people who were exposed.<\/p>\n

“Measles poses a serious risk, especially now that kids are heading back to school,” Austin-Travis County Health Authority Dr. Desmar Walkes said in a statement. “Getting your MMR vaccine not only protects you but also your family, friends, classmates and coworkers.”<\/p>\n

RELATED: Second measles case of 2026 confirmed in Travis County, this time in unvaccinated infant<\/a><\/p>\n

Two doses of the MMR vaccine are required for full immunity, and it’s available at doctors’ offices, pharmacies, and Austin Public Health’s Shots for Tots and Big Shots clinics, officials said.<\/p>\n

Measles spreads through the air and can linger on surfaces for up to two hours, according to health officials, and up to 9 in 10 unprotected people nearby will become infected if exposed. Symptoms (fever, cough, rash, red watery eyes and small white spots in the mouth) typically appear seven to 14 days after exposure. Anyone who believes they’ve been exposed should contact a health care provider and isolate at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just one airplane ride away from having measles be in our community and so it is really important to be vigilant about making sure that people get vaccinated,\u201d Cooks-Sinclair said.<\/p>\n

Infants can sometimes receive an early MMR dose beginning at 6 months before international travel, but parents should consult their doctor, Cooks-Sinclair said. She urged families to weigh whether travel can be postponed due to the dangers of measles.<\/p>\n

Complications can include pneumonia and encephalitis and can be fatal, particularly in children under 5, pregnant women and people who are immunocompromised, officials said.<\/p>\n

The first Travis County case this year, confirmed in May, involved an unvaccinated adult who also caught the virus while traveling internationally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Austin Public Health has confirmed the second measles case in Travis County this year, involving…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-434727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}