Second child dies of measles in Texas amid rising outbreak | Texas

A second little one with measles has died in Texas amid a steadily rising outbreak that has contaminated almost 500 individuals in that state alone.

The US well being and human providers division confirmed the demise to NBC late Saturday, although the company insisted precisely why the kid died remained below investigation. On Sunday, a spokesperson for the UMC Well being System in Lubbock, Texas, stated that the kid had been hospitalized earlier than dying and was “receiving treatment for complications of measles” – which is well preventable by vaccination.

The household of the kid in query had chosen to not get the minor vaccinated towards the sickness.

In the meantime, the New York Occasions described the kid as an eight-year-old woman who had died from “measles pulmonary failure” early on Thursday. The outlet cited information it had obtained.

That marked the second time a baby with measles had died since 26 February. The primary was a six-year-old woman – additionally hospitalized in Lubbock – whose dad and mom had not had her vaccinated.

NBC and Axios reported that the Trump administration well being secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, was anticipated to attend the funeral of the second little one, with the service scheduled for Sunday.

Kennedy for years has baselessly sowed doubt about vaccine security and efficacy. In March, he sparked alarm amongst these involved by the US’s measles outbreak when he backed nutritional vitamins to deal with the sickness and stopped in need of endorsing protecting vaccines, which he minimized as merely a “personal choice” relatively than a security measure that way back was confirmed efficient.

A 3rd individual to have died after contracting measles was an unvaccinated individual in Lea county, New Mexico, officers in that state introduced in early March, although the virus has not been confirmed as the reason for demise.

Dr Peter Marks, who lately resigned because the Meals and Drug Administration’s vaccine whereas attributing that call to Kennedy’s “misinformation and lies”, blamed the US well being secretary and his workers for the demise of the kid being buried on Sunday.

“This is the epitome of an absolute needless death,” Marks stated Sunday throughout an interview with the Related Press. “These kids should get vaccinated – that’s how you prevent people from dying of measles.”

Marks additionally advised the AP that he had warned US senators that the nation would endure extra measles-related deaths if the Trump administration didn’t extra aggressively reply to the outbreak. The Senate well being committee has known as Kennedy to testify earlier than the group on Thursday.

One in every of that committee’s members is the Louisiana Republican and medical physician Invoice Cassidy, who regularly speaks concerning the significance of getting vaccinates towards illnesses however joined his Senate colleagues in voting to substantiate Kennedy because the US well being secretary.

Cassidy on Sunday printed a press release saying: “Everyone should be vaccinated.”

There’s “no benefit to getting measles”, Cassidy’s assertion added. “Top health officials should say so unequivocally [before] another child dies.”

Measles, which is brought on by a extremely contagious, airborne virus that spreads simply when an contaminated individual breathes, sneezes or coughs, had been declared eradicated from the US in 2000. However the virus has lately been spreading in undervaccinated communities, with Texas and New Mexico standing amongst 5 states with lively outbreaks – which is outlined as three or extra circumstances.

The opposite states are Kansas, Ohio and Oklahoma. Collectively, as of Friday, the US had surpassed 600 measles circumstances thus far this 12 months – greater than double the quantity it recorded in all of 2024. Well being officers and specialists have stated that they anticipate the measles outbreak to go on for a number of extra months not less than – if not for a few 12 months.

Texas alone was reporting 481 circumstances throughout 19 counties as of Friday, most of them within the western area of the state. It registered 59 beforehand unreported circumstances between Tuesday and Friday. There have been additionally 14 new hospitalizations, for a complete of 56 all through the outbreak.

Greater than 65% of Texas’s measles circumstances are in Gaines county, which has a inhabitants of slightly below 23,000, and was the place the virus began spreading in a tightly knit, undervaccinated Mennonite group.

Gaines has logged 315 circumstances – in simply over 1% of the county’s residents – since late January.

The Related Press contributed reporting