A measles signal is seen on the Texas Tech College Well being Sciences Heart, Feb. 25, 2025, in Lubbock, Texas.
Julio Cortez/AP
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Julio Cortez/AP
A second school-aged youngster in West Texas has died from a measles-related sickness, a hospital spokesman confirmed Sunday, because the outbreak continues to swell.
Aaron Davis, a spokesperson for UMC Well being System in Lubbock, Texas, mentioned that the kid was “receiving therapy for problems of measles whereas hospitalized” and was not vaccinated. The hospital declined to say which day the kid died.
Neither the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention nor the Texas State Division of State Well being Companies embody the demise of their measles experiences issued Friday. Spokespeople for the state well being division and U.S. Well being and Human Companies Division did not instantly reply to requests for touch upon Sunday.
A unvaccinated school-age youngster died of measles in February in Lubbock — the primary measles demise within the U.S. in a decade. In early March, an grownup in New Mexico who was unvaccinated and didn’t search medical care grew to become the second measles-related demise.
Greater than two months in, the West Texas outbreak is believed to have unfold to New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas, sickening almost 570 individuals. The World Well being Group additionally reported instances associated to Texas in Mexico.
The variety of instances in Texas shot up by 81 between March 28 and April 4, and 16 extra individuals had been hospitalized. A staff from the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention is on the bottom in Texas helping with outbreak response.
And nationwide, the U.S. has greater than double the variety of measles instances it noticed in all of 2024.
Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist, has delivered a tepid message on the significance of vaccination towards measles, saying it ought to be inspired whereas additionally sowing doubt within the vaccine’s security. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine has been used safely for greater than 60 years and is 97% efficient towards measles after two doses.
Consultants and native well being officers anticipate the outbreak to go on for a number of extra months if not a yr. In West Texas, the overwhelming majority of instances are in unvaccinated individuals and youngsters youthful than 17.
With a number of states going through outbreaks of the vaccine-preventable illness, some fear that measles could price the U.S. its standing as having eradicated the illness.
Measles is a respiratory virus that may survive within the air for as much as two hours. As much as 9 out of 10 people who find themselves prone will get the virus if uncovered, in response to the CDC. The primary shot is beneficial for youngsters ages 12 to fifteen months, and the second for ages 4 to six years.
