The current measles outbreak has gripped US states like Texas and New Mexico leaving people worried whether it would become a new pandemic. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services as of February 21, 90 cases were diagnosed in the last month in the South Plains area, with at least 77 of them were reported in children and teens under 17.

Measles is highly contagious and can be deadly. The outbreak, which started spreading in late January, has resulted in multiple hospitalizations, with at least nine confirmed cases and three probable cases as of early February. Health officials caution that at least one in five infected individuals will have to be hospitalized, highlighting the severity of the situation.

Misinformation surrounding vaccines and with the new Trump administration anti-vaccine campaigs, has causing parents to hesitate or refuse vaccination.

Furthermore, the country down under Australia is also witnessing a surge in measles cases as health officials in Sydney have issued an urgent alert, urging residents to watch for measles symptoms after an infected individual visited several places in Sydney over the last seven days.

Authorities report that the traveller had returned from South East Asia where there are ongoing outbreaks of measles.

What Are The Symptoms Measles?

Key symptoms of measles include fever, a runny nose, sore eyes, and a cough. Typically, a red, blotchy rash appears three to four days later, spreading from the head down to the body. Symptoms can manifest between 7 and 18 days after exposure.

Anyone who experiences these symptoms after potential exposure should immediately contact their doctor or emergency department. It is crucial to call ahead before visiting to avoid potentially exposing others in the waiting room. Dr. Selvey also highlighted that ongoing measles outbreaks are occurring in various parts of the world, making awareness and prompt action essential.

Why It Is Important To Get Vaccinated?

According to CDC everyone should get the MMR vaccine. It protects you from measles, mumps, and rubella. Getting vaccinated helps stop these diseases from spreading. There are two safe MMR vaccines available. They work the same way, so it doesn't matter which one you get. Kids can also get a shot that protects against chickenpox too, but this is only for children.

Who Should Get Vaccinated?

Kids Need Two Shots

All children should get two MMR shots. The first shot should be given when they are between 12 and 15 months old. The second shot should be given when they are between 4 and 6 years old. If needed, the second shot can be given earlier, but it must be at least 28 days after the first shot.

College Students Need to Be Protected

Students going to college or other schools after high school, need two shots if they are not already immune. The shots must be at least 28 days apart.

Adults Need at Least One Shot

Most adults need at least one MMR shot. Some adults need two shots, especially those who work in healthcare, travel a lot, or go to college. These people should get two shots, with 28 days between them.

Travelers Need to Be Extra Careful

Anyone traveling to other countries should make sure they are protected. Babies 6 to 11 months old should get one shot before traveling. Kids 12 months and older, teens, and adults need two shots, with 28 days between them.

Healthcare Workers Must Be Immune

People who work in healthcare should have proof that they are immune to measles, mumps, and rubella. If they are not immune, they need two MMR shots, spaced 28 days apart.

Women Thinking About Having Babies

Women who might get pregnant should talk to their doctor about the MMR vaccine. It's safe to get the shot while breastfeeding.

Lauren Macpherson, 29, started showing symptoms of what she later realized was terminal brain cancer after a heavy case fell from the luggage rack of a train on her head. She had to be rushed to hospital. She was on the train for a music festival in London and had to be taken off halfway due to excruciating pain. She had instant swelling and doctors feared that she had a fracture in her spine or a concussion. However, scans revealed something else. There was a shadow on her brain, which turned out to be a tumor. She was told that she only had 12 months to live.

“As [the doctor] said it I just knew, because I’ve been having all these symptoms building up, especially over the last two years, and it just clicked. There is an instinct inside you, and when you have been feeling unwell, it just all made sense,” said Lauren.

Lauren Dismissed Her Symptoms As ADHD

She revealed that she had been suffering from a series of symptoms like extreme fatigue, bad memory, emotional dysregulation, stomach pain, and headaches. She however, believed that these symptoms were linked to ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder). This condition is also characterized by behavioral differences like difficulties with focus.

Surprising to most, being told that she had a brain tumor was a "relief" to her. "You think you are going crazy, all these things going wrong. I would have such bad days where I literally could not get out of bed. Like nobody would understand," she said.

Read: Colon Cancer Is The Leading Cause Of Death In US For People Under 50

Doctors had told her in September 2025 that she may have less than a year to live. "I just kept saying, 'just give me my thirties'. I will be grateful for anything just as long as I get my thirties and it gives me time to just say goodbye and have a bit of a life," she said.

“That’s all I could think about. I couldn’t think of anything else, it was just get through it, to get through my thirties and that is all."

The Condition Lauren Has

A biopsy showed that she had oligodendroglioma. This is a rare type of tumor that develops in the glial cells. She was told that the average life expectancy of such a tumor is around 10 to 12 years.

Last year, in October, she had a six-hour awake craniotomy at a private clinic in London. While surgeons were able to remove 80 per cent of the tumor, she struggled with memory loss afterwards.

"I couldn’t speak and didn’t even know how to unlock my phone,” she wrote in a blog post for Brain Tumour Research. "Slowly, my memory and speech returned. I still can’t read or write properly and I’m undergoing rehabilitation. I still search for words during conversation and get headaches, but things are improving," she wrote.

She now wants to live her live to full with what time she has left and is planning to marry her partner Zac and enjoy a trip to Italy to mark her 30th birthday.

The Uttar Pradesh Government today announced a partnership with Wadhwani AI to develop a roadmap for deploying a suite of AI-powered solutions across the state’s public health programs.

The partnership will advance the deployment of seven AI-powered solutions, such as:

• tuberculosis care and management

• telemedicine

• eye health

• maternal and child health

• equipping frontline health workers with data-driven tools

Wadhwani AI will serve as a technical partner to the state, supporting the deployment of AI-driven tools aligned with the government’s public health priorities.

The collaboration aligns with the UP AI Mission -- a three-year initiative launched by the UP Government to build a state-led AI ecosystem and accelerate the use of AI across sectors, including governance, healthcare, and agriculture.

“AI offers a promising opportunity to further enhance efforts by supporting frontline health workers, improving early disease detection, and enabling more informed clinical decision-making,” said Amit Kumar Ghosh (IAS), Additional Chief Secretary, Medical Health, Family Welfare, and Medical Education in Uttar Pradesh.

“Through this partnership with Wadhwani AI, we look forward to adopting and deploying AI-driven tools across our health programs and progressively expanding the use of these solutions to further strengthen service delivery and improve health outcomes across the state,” Ghosh added.

The AI-powered Solutions

• In tuberculosis care, the Cough Against TB (CATB) mobile phone-based screening application will enable frontline healthcare workers to identify individuals with presumptive pulmonary TB by analyzing cough sounds and accompanying symptoms, enabling early detection even in community settings.

Vulnerability Mapping for Tuberculosis (VMTB) will use geospatial AI analytics to identify high-risk locations by analyzing TB program data alongside multiple environmental and health indicators, helping health authorities prioritize targeted interventions and active case-finding activities.

The Prediction of Adverse TB Outcomes (PATO), an AI-powered risk stratification tool, will help identify patients at higher risk of adverse outcomes at the onset of TB treatment and facilitate prompt, targeted, and effective interventions that, over time, will help lower mortality rates and prevent drug-resistant TB.

• In telemedicine, the Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) will enable clinicians to access structured patient information and offer AI-assisted differential diagnosis recommendations during consultations, supporting the quality and consistency of care delivery across primary healthcare settings.

• The collaboration will also include the deployment of Health Vaani, a voice- and text-based knowledge assistant which will provide frontline health workers with instant access to government-approved health guidelines, enabling quicker decision-making and more consistent service delivery at the community level.

• To address the growing burden of diabetes-related vision complications, the partnership will also deploy MadhuNetrAI, an AI-enabled screening solution that will analyze retinal images to detect diabetic retinopathy and support early referral for specialist care, particularly in resource-constrained settings where specialist availability may be limited.

• In maternal and newborn health, Shishu Maapan, an AI-powered newborn anthropometry tool, will enable frontline health workers to capture accurate newborn measurements using a smartphone during home-based newborn care visits.

“The solutions being deployed span the continuum of health delivery from identifying high-risk communities to supporting ASHA workers during field visits, to enabling early disease detection through AI-assisted analysis,” said Dr. Neeraj Agrawal, Chief Program Officer, Wadhwani AI.

"As the partnership progresses, we look forward to expanding this work and supporting additional AI solutions that can further strengthen health systems and improve outcomes at scale," he added.

After Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, now Bihar plans to implement social media for children. The Indian government is also reportedly mulling at a larger plan.

The move is largely aimed at curbing cyberbullying, addiction, and poor mental health. But given India's rapidly evolving digital landscape, can it work, or will it have serious repercussions? Lets, take a look.

While Karnataka banned social media for children under 16 to combat negative mental health effects, in Andhra Pradesh, the ban will be applied to children aged 13 and below within the next 90 days.

Globally, Australia and Indonesia have also effected similar bans.

The social media bans in India came as the central government, in its Economic Survey, tabled in the Parliament in January this year, stated the need for an age-based access to online platforms and also implored cutting down online teaching to avoid digital addiction.

"The intent to protect young minds from addiction, misinformation, and harmful content is welcome. However, effectiveness will depend less on restricting children and more on regulating platforms," Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta, chairman- Health Parliament, creator of SHE App and former advisor to the Union Health Minister, told HealthandMe.

Also read: Karnataka’s Social Media Ban To Help Children Find Life Beyond Screens

Social Media And Teen Health

A 2025 report by NITI Aayog revealed that children in India aged up to five spent 1.5 hours online on average in 2023, accessing educational videos and games.

Children between six and 10 years old spent 2.5 hours online using services such as social media, gaming, and videos.

Further, the Economic Survey 2025-26 also mentioned the high prevalence of social media addiction among those aged 15-24 and linked it with an increase in anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and cyberbullying stress.

Coupled with compulsive scrolling and gaming disorders, Indian youth are increasingly experiencing sleep disruption, aggression, social withdrawal, and depression, with adolescent populations being especially vulnerable.

According to a study published by the Pew Research Center in 2025, showed roughly half of teens (48 percent) say social media sites have a mostly negative effect on people their age.

A December 2025 study by Karolinska Institutet in Sweden showed social media is tied to rising attention problems in teens.

Several other studies globally have indicated that those teens who spend more time on social media tend to show more symptoms of depression.

These showed that excessive social media use can lead to:

• Social isolation
• Decrease physical activity and time spent outdoors
• Sleep loss
• Increase stress

“For developing young brains, excessive social media exposure has been linked to anxiety, depression, sleep disruption, and, most importantly, difficulty with regulating attention and emotions. Algorithms intensify comparison, validation-seeking, and exposure to harmful content, which children lack the maturity to process,” Dr. Sachin Pradeep Baliga, Associate Consultant Mental Health & Behavioural Sciences, Fortis Healthcare, told HealthandMe.

In 2023, former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy named social media as a major threat to the mental health of teens. He also released a social media advisory about social media and mental health.

The advisory indicates that frequent social media use could be associated with changes in parts of the brain related to emotions and learning. Additionally, it can affect impulse control, social behavior, emotional regulation, and sensitivity to social punishments and rewards.

In serious cases, social media can also contribute to self-harm or suicidal thoughts, especially among teens and children facing cyberbullying or trolling. Young people are particularly vulnerable to online pressures, negative comparisons, and feelings of rejection.

At the same time, social media in some ways can also benefit mental health. It provides many teens with a community that helps them through difficult times.

Many social media platforms also encourage

• help-seeking behaviors
• initiates mental health care
• Affirms sexual identities
• Provides social support

“The goal should be age-appropriate access, digital literacy, parental supervision, and platform accountability. Like traffic rules for a busy highway, regulations can protect young minds while still allowing them to access the healthy benefits of digital connection and learning,” the expert said.

A Blanket Ban By The Government?

The Economic Survey stated that as digital access cannot be fully restricted, the establishment of offline youth hubs, particularly in urban slums and rural areas, can be provide alternatives to digital spaces. It also urged moderated online safe spaces hosted by schools or similar institutions.

“Schools play a critical role in shaping digital habits, and hence, they should introduce a Digital Wellness Curriculum covering screen time literacy, cyber safety, and mental health awareness,” it said, while calling for a “holistic approach, including physical and mental health, is essential to ensure a resilient future”.

Recently, the Indian Express reported that the government is not in favor of a ban on social media for children.

It is instead considering a more nuanced and graded approach in specifying restrictions for children under 18 years as suggested in the Economic Survey, and is likely to be brought forth in the Monsoon session of the Parliament, later this year.

The restrictions will be age-based and categorized among:

• 8-12 years age,
• 12-16 year olds,
• 16-18 years

“Stronger platform accountability, age-appropriate design, and algorithmic responsibility are crucial. Combined with digital literacy and parental awareness, Oversight and control, such measures can create a healthier digital ecosystem; without platform control, regulations risk remaining largely symbolic,” Dr. Gupta said.

What Parents Can Do?

Carol Vidal, child and adolescent psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, urges parents to become a role model and teach children and teens to have a healthy relationship with social media.

“Delaying the purchase of smartphones until the child is ready is a good first step. But, it is also important to instill healthy habits in children’s use of screens given that technology — and social media in particular — will be present throughout their lives,” Vidal said.

The expert urges parents to apply strategies such as :

• Taking regular breaks from digital devices
• Turning off notifications
• Establishing phone-free hours and spaces
• Discussing appropriate boundaries and behaviors when interacting online.