Those traveling south of the border during the Easter holiday, especially pregnant women, are being warned about an outbreak of rubella in Mexico blamed for more than two dozen cases in Texas. Diane Garcia, who works at a gift shop in the airport in Harlingen, said residents in South Texas are aware of the outbreak.
People seem to be a little more cautious about traveling into Mexico.
Health officials are most concerned about pregnant women in their first trimester. But the effects on a developing fetus can be severe. About 10 cases of rubella, which is spread by droplets from the nose or throat of an infected person, are reported in Texas each year. But already this year 26 cases have been reported in the state, including 18 in a federal Immigration and Naturalization Service detention center in Port Isabel. The U.S. Public Health Service Division of Immigrant Health Services and the TDH last week inoculated all 650 detainees at the INS facility at Cameron County in far South Texas.