Nurse Sherry Andrews works on the Metropolis of Lubbock Well being Division as folks get the MMR vaccine, in Lubbock, Texas, U.S. Feb. 27, 2025.
Annie Rice | Reuters
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, stated that the kid was “receiving therapy for problems of measles whereas hospitalized” and was not vaccinated.
A unvaccinated school-age youngster died of measles in February in Lubbock — the primary measles dying 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 dying.
Greater than two months in, the West Texas outbreak is believed to have unfold to New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas, sickening almost 570 folks. 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 folks had been hospitalized. A staff from the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention is on the bottom in Texas aiding 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 needs 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.
Specialists 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 folks and kids youthful than 17.
With a number of states going through outbreaks of the vaccine-preventable illness, some fear that measles might 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 vulnerable will get the virus if uncovered, in keeping with the CDC. The primary shot is really useful for youngsters ages 12 to fifteen months, and the second for ages 4 to six years.
