Kansas health officials have confirmed 23 measles cases, marking an outbreak for the state as infections in at least 17 states have led to the most cases in the U.S. in a single year since 2019. The Kansas outbreak is spread across 6 southwest counties, the state's Department of Health and Environment said Wednesday.

A measles outbreak in Kansas has more than doubled to nearly two dozen cases over the last week, according to state health officials, who said they identified a “possible link” between confirmed cases of the highly contagious illness and a larger outbreak in Texas and New Mexico.

Twenty-three measles cases have been reported in Kansas, and the state health department said they could be linked to an ongoing outbreak that has infected at least 379 people across Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma.