As the outbreak of measles cases continues to rise in Texas, where a child recently died, Dr. Ron Cook, chief health officer for the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, is warning about the danger of "measles parties."

The Dallas Morning News reports:

“We can’t predict who is going to do poorly with measles, being hospitalized, potentially get pneumonia or encephalitis, or potentially pass away from this,” he said, according to multiple news reports. “It’s a foolish thing to go have measles parties.”

It is not known if measles parties are actually popping up in West Texas. Asked for more information, Cook said, “It’s mostly been ... social media talk.”

Measles parties echo chicken pox parties from decades ago, when people would deliberately expose themselves or others to someone with a confirmed case in an attempt to spread the virus in a controlled environment.

The chicken pox vaccine was introduced to the public in 1995, largely ending the practice.

See, MAGA, vaccines work. Of the 146 reported cases in Texas, 141 were in people who were either unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown. As of February 2025, 164 measles cases have been reported in nine states.