Stock photos in news reports don’t mean Texas measles outbreak isn’t real

A Threads post said a Texas measles outbreak that has sickened 146 people and killed a child this year as of Feb. 28 isn’t real because media outlets covering the story used stock images in their reports.

"The ‘Texas measles outbreak’ is pure propaganda," a Feb. 25 Threads post said. "Ever wonder why these news reports never have an actual picture of the ‘outbreak’ or name one person affected? They are making it very easy to realize there is no ‘virus.’"

The post shared four images from news reports in USA Today, NPR, ABC News and Fox News that used stock images of people stricken with measles, a highly contagious, airborne viral disease that can cause serious complications, including a rash with visible flat, red spots on a victim’s body.

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

The Threads post’s assertion that stock image usage is evidence that the outbreak isn’t real misunderstands how photojournalism works. It also ignores the multiple public health departments and officials, including new Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. that have spoken about the outbreak.

(Screenshot from Threads)

The account that shared the Threads post has also posted numerous anti-vaccine posts and others that falsely claim viruses don’t exist.

The Texas Department of State Health Services has issued news releases and public health alerts since Jan. 23, when it announced that two people in Houston’s Harris County who had traveled internationally were the first confirmed measles cases in Texas since 2023. Texas health officials say those two cases are unrelated to the West Texas outbreak, the bulk of which are in Gaines County.

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The department on Feb. 26 announced the outbreak’s first death, a school-aged child who was not vaccinated. Of the 146 Texas measles cases, five were among people vaccinated for measles and the rest among people who were not vaccinated or whose statuses were unknown.

The Centers for Disease Control said as of Feb. 27 there were 164 measles cases in nine states — the agency is updating those totals every Friday. State public health department numbers were slightly higher, with 169 confirmed measles cases in nine states: Texas with 146, New Mexico with nine, California, Georgia and New Jersey with three each, New York City with two, and one each in Alaska, Kentucky and Rhode Island.

Kennedy spoke about the measles outbreak Feb. 26 to reporters at Trump’s first Cabinet meeting. The CDC said the U.S. has had three measles outbreaks this year and 16 in 2024. Kennedy said. "It’s not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year."

There were 16 U.S. outbreaks in 2024, with 285 cases across 33 jurisdictions, CDC data shows. The Texas child’s death was the first in the U.S. since 2015. State data showed it came in a county with one of the state’s highest rates of school-aged children who received exemptions from receiving one or more required vaccines for reasons of conscience. About 91% of all U.S. children have been vaccinated. The World Health Organization said the virus killed about 107,500 people worldwide in 2023.

That the news outlets used stock images showing unidentifiable children with measles is not unusual, particularly when reporting on health issues in which live photos are rare.

USA Today, ABC News and NPR all used different stock images provided by Getty Images to illustrate stories about measles. It’s not clear where the Fox News images came from, but we found the two stock images seen in the Fox video on other websites.

When patients consent to be identified or photographed, news organizations are more likely to use those images in their coverage. None of the Texas measles victims in Texas have been identified by state officials due to privacy laws. People with measles also would likely be in quarantine at home or being treated in a hospital, not sharing their highly contagious disease with journalists.

Public health and medical websites often use stock photos, older unidentifiable medical photos, or clip art to illustrate stories about various diseases, rather than photos of currently ill people.

The claim that the use of these images in stories about a current outbreak proves that the outbreak is not real is nonsensical. We rate it Pants on Fire!