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Hey, Shorewavers, Regina Barbara here. And in the past few weeks, one of the things that's been

all over the news is the measles outbreak. This morning, new numbers show the measles virus

spreading like wildfire. There doesn't seem to be any slowdown in the growing measles epidemic.

The growing measles outbreak in the southwestern United States claimed a second life this week.

Fifteen states across the U.S. are now reporting cases.

The numbers continue to grow.

How close to containing this spread are authorities?

What's their plan?

This outbreak started in West Texas in January and spread across state borders into New Mexico.

As of last Friday, there were nearly 300 confirmed cases reported.

That surpasses the total measles infections reported in the U.S. in all of 2024.

That number is expected to increase when new numbers are released Tuesday.

And there have been cases reported in other states as well, like I've heard of cases as far away as Alaska, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky.

Although, just to clarify, Gina, those cases have been tied to international travel and not to the Texas outbreak.

Right, and you're here to help us, like, make sense of all this.

Hey, Maria.

Hi, Regina. You're a

health and science correspondent for NPR, so I know you've been keeping track of all of this,

...