Dr. Julee Morrow started her career at Cook Children’s Medical Center in 1987. Soon after, she was fighting the rampant spread of measles.
DALLAS — The growing measles outbreak in West Texas is the worst the state has seen in more than 30 years when thousands of cases infected people across the state.
Between 1989 and 1991, the U.S. recorded 55,467 measles cases, according to the CDC. At least 11,251 of those cases required hospitalization and 166 patients died.
Data from the state of Texas shows a spike in cases starting in 1989 with approximately 3,316 cases, many in Harris County.
By 1990, the epicenter of Texas cases had moved north and Dr. Julee Morrow was a new pediatrician at Cook Children’s in Fort Worth.
“We powered through,” she said. “I mean, we did what we had to do to keep these kids healthy.”
Morrow began her career in 1987, and the memories of that measles outbreak remain vivid more than three decades later.
“I was lucky. I had none of my patients die from it. So I feel very fortunate that that didn’t happen,” she recalled.
Of 4,409 measles cases recorded statewide in 1990, Dallas County had 1,896 and Tarrant 275. There were 12 deaths in Texas that year and 9 happened in Dallas County.
By 1991, the state experienced a decline in cases, with just 294. Dallas accounted for 29 of those.
Morrow remembers children with bad coughs, difficulty breathing, conjunctivitis, and the telltale rash.
“The rash would start around the scalp and behind the ears on the face and it would travel down the entire body,” she described. “It’s very angry looking, and very uncomfortable for the kids.”
Then there were the high fevers.
“We were dealing with temperatures of 103 to 105 degrees. And at that point, a lot of the children developed respiratory issues with difficulty breathing and requiring oxygen to support their breathing. They would also develop vomiting and diarrhea.”
The state of Texas has now recorded the death of an unvaccinated school-aged child who had been hospitalized in Lubbock in the current measles outbreak hitting West Texas.
The same day the state announced the child’s death, it also confirmed an unrelated case of measles in Rockwall County. That case involves an unvaccinated adult who traveled internationally, a spokesperson for the Department of State Health Services said.
County health officials told WFAA the patient went to a hospital six days after returning home to Rockwall County, but the state said there is no indication they visited any public places like grocery stores or restaurants while they were contagious.
The resurgence of a virus once eradicated through vaccination worries Dr. Morrow.
On a scale of one to 10, with 10 being most concerned Morrow said she’s currently “pretty close to a 10.”
“I think every pediatrician in this state is at this point.”
The spread also saddens her.
“This is a needless injury to children,” she said, reminding people that science has proven the vaccine to be safe and 97% effective.
“I am a native Texan. I was born and raised and I’m really proud to live in this state. I think that the people in Texas care about each other, and this is the time to show that you care and the way you can show that you care is get your child vaccinated,” she said.
“And if you don’t, don’t go anywhere. Stay home.”
