[Lamplighter]

NBC News
JoNel Aleccia
8/25/13

Measles outbreak tied to Texas megachurch sickens 21

Sixteen people -- nine children and seven adults
-- ranging in age from 4 months to 44 years had come down
with the highly contagious virus in Tarrant County, Texas,
as of Monday.
Another five cases are part of the outbreak in nearby Denton County.

All of the cases are linked to the Eagle Mountain International Church in Newark, Texas,
where a visitor who’d traveled to Indonesia became infected with measles
– and then returned to the U.S., spreading it to the largely unvaccinated church community,
said Russell Jones, the Texas state epidemiologist.
<snip>
In the wake of the measles outbreak, however, Pearsons has urged followers to get vaccinated
and the church has held several vaccination clinics, according to its website.
Health officials said the church administration has been very cooperative in the outbreak investigation.