Measles outbreak: Second child dies of disease in Texas, the New York Times reports

CNN
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An 8-year-old lady in Texas died Thursday morning of “measles pulmonary failure,” according to The New York Times, citing information it obtained.

A Trump administration official advised the paper the lady’s reason behind loss of life is “still being looked at.”

That is the second loss of life within the state linked to the continuing measles outbreak. The primary loss of life was in an unvaccinated school-age youngster in February. A loss of life in New Mexico stays underneath investigation.

The outbreak – now spanning Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and probably Kansas – reached at the least 569 instances Friday, in response to knowledge obtained from state well being departments.

Texas has reported 481 outbreak-associated instances as of Friday and almost all have been unvaccinated.

New Mexico has reported 54 instances, and Oklahoma reported 10 instances – eight confirmed and two possible – as of Friday. Circumstances in Kansas, which the state well being division stated could also be linked to the outbreak, reached 24 as of Wednesday.

A lot of these instances are amongst unvaccinated individuals, and specialists say the numbers are almost certainly a extreme undercount as a result of many instances go unreported.

Many of the reported instances are in individuals underneath 18, and specialists fear about rising hospitalizations, particularly in youthful kids who’re at increased danger of problems.

“The more children who get the disease means that there’s an increased chance that there will be more children getting sicker with complications from measles,” stated Dr. Christina Johns, a pediatric emergency doctor at PM Pediatrics in Annapolis, Maryland.

CNN didn’t instantly hear again from inquiries despatched to the Texas Division of Well being and the US Division of Well being and Human Companies.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr has downplayed the severity of the outbreak and confronted criticism of the company’s response.

Kennedy’s response to the outbreak has been “abysmal,” stated Dr. Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Schooling Middle on the Philadelphia Kids’s Hospital.

Offit highlighted the secretary’s historical past of decrying vaccines and minimizing the danger of measles.

“The disease has returned because a critical percentage of parents have chosen not to vaccinate their children, in large part because of misinformation provided by people like RFK Jr,” he stated.