CDC staff received an email this week telling them to avoid using more than a dozen terms or words-- including "health equity," "race," "bias," and "disparity" -- in their annual performance evaluations;

The last U.S. measles death was in 2015, according to the CDC. A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Health Services was not immediately available to Reuters for comment, but the agency said in a release that 18 people were hospitalized with the disease.

Unvaccinated children are fueling the Texas measles outbreak and spring break brings concern of wider spread of illness