(NEXSTAR) – Multiple measles outbreaks have been reported already this year, with one in Texas ballooning from six cases to 48 in just over a week.

“Due to the highly contagious nature of this disease, additional cases are likely to occur in Gaines County and the surrounding communities,” the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) said on Friday.

The majority of cases in Texas involve children under the age of 17, the Texas DSHS said. Thirteen have been hospitalized.

A teen from Lea County, New Mexico — just over the border from Gaines County, Texas — was also infected, though the patient has had no known contact with any of the Texas patients, the New Mexico Department of Health said Tuesday.

In an update earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had identified just 14 total cases across Texas and four other states: Alaska, Georgia, New York and Rhode Island. The CDC did not provide the ages of the patients, nor the case counts for each individual state.

In its Friday bulletin, the Texas DHSH said all confirmed cases were among patients who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was “unknown.” The 14 cases confirmed by the CDC were all among unvaccinated patients, the agency said.

The reason for these recent........

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