The second-unvaccinated school-age child in West Texas died of measles-related illness, a hospital spokesman confirmed Sunday that the outbreak continues to swell.
Aaron Davis, a spokesman for UMC Health System in Lubbock, Texas, said the child was “treated for measles complications while in hospital,” and there was no underlying health condition. The hospital refused to say which day the child died.
Neither the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nor the Texas Department of Health Department’s Health Department have included the deaths in a measles report issued Friday. The state health department’s spokesperson, the CDC, and the U.S. Health and Human Services Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday.
An unvaccinated school-age child passed away in Lubbock in February. This was the first measles death in the United States in 10 years. In early March, an adult in New Mexico had not been vaccinated and an adult who didn’t seek medical care became the second measles-related death.
Nationally, the US has more than twice the measles cases we saw in all 2024.
More than two months later, the West Texas outbreak is believed to have spread to New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas, with nearly 570 people sick. The World Health Organization also reported incidents related to Texas, Mexico. The number of cases in Texas rose 81 between March 28th and April 4th, with another 16 people hospitalised. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention team is on the ground supporting Texas outbreak response.
Longtime anti-vaccine activist Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said it should be encouraged while questioning the safety of vaccines. Measles, mumps and rubella vaccines have been safely used for over 60 years and are 97% effective against measles after two doses.
Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy and liver doctor, Sen. Bill Cassidy, called Sunday for a stronger messaging from health officials at the X post.
“Everyone should get vaccinated! There is no measles treatment. There is no benefit in getting measles,” he wrote. “The best health authorities should say they should be clear enough to make another child die.”
Misinformation about how to prevent and treat measles is a hampering robust public health response, including claims about vitamin A supplements pushed by Kennedy and advocates of holistic medicine, despite doctors’ warnings that it can put too much at risk, given under doctor’s orders.
Doctors at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, where the first measles occurred, say they dealt with less than 10 children due to liver problems caused by vitamin A toxicity. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Lala Johnson said he reported that patients were using vitamin A to treat and prevent the virus.
Dr. Peter Marks, former Food and Drug Administration vaccine director, said the death lies with Kennedy and his staff. After disagreement with Kennedy about vaccine safety, Mark was kicked out of the FDA.
“This is an absolutely unnecessary epitome of death,” Marks told The Associated Press in an interview Sunday. “These children should be vaccinated, and that’s how they prevent people from dying from measles.”
Kennedy is scheduled to launch a Make America Healthy tour in the Southwest US earlier this week.
Marks also said he recently warned US senators that if the administration did not respond more positively to the outbreak, more deaths would occur. Kennedy was convened Thursday to testify before the Senate Health Committee.
Experts and local health officials expect it to happen for several more months, if not a year. In West Texas, the majority of cases are in unvaccinated people and children under the age of 17.
There are concerns that several states are facing an outbreak of vaccine-preventable diseases, with declining childhood vaccination rates across the country — measles could potentially sacrifice the status of eliminating the disease in the United States.
Measles is a respiratory virus that can survive in the air for up to 2 hours. According to the CDC, nine in 10 susceptible people will ingest the virus when exposed. The first shot is recommended for children aged 12-15 months and for children aged 4-6 years for the second.
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Associated Press reporters Amanda Seitz and Matthew Perrone from Washington contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press School of Health Sciences is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institution’s Science and Education Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. AP is solely responsible for all content.
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