Young boy’s death from measles in West Texas first U.S. fatality in a decade

An unvaccinated boy with measles died in West Texas overnight, the Texas Department of State Health Services announced Wednesday.

The deceased was a school-aged child hospitalized in Lubbock. The child, unidentified by health officials, was the first U.S. death from the highly contagious respiratory disease in a decade, authorities said.

As of Tuesday, there were 124 measles cases statewide, with 18 people hospitalized. Most of the infected are minors, with 39 patients from newborn to age 4, 62 patients ages 5-17, and 18 patients ages 18 and older.

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center officials told Lubbock’s KCBD that the deceased patient was being treated at Covenant Children’s Hospital, which has a partnership with the center.

The federal government is providing vaccines as well as technical and laboratory support in West Texas, but the state health department is leading the response, said Andrew Nixon, spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

A spokesman for Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said his office is in regular communication with the state health department and epidemiologists, and that vaccination teams are in the “affected area.”

“The state will deploy all necessary resources to ensure the safety and health of Texans,” spokesman Andrew Mahaleris said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends taking the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to avoid catching measles, with one dose having a 93% efficacy rate and two having a 97% efficacy rate.

Of the 124 cases across Texas since late January, just five are confirmed to have been vaccinated, with the remainder confirmed to be unvaccinated or with an uncertain vaccination status.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. addressed the outbreak at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, saying, “We’re watching it. We’re going to continue to follow it.”

Though he is known as a skeptic of some vaccines, Mr. Kennedy said during his confirmation hearings that “I support the measles vaccine, I support the polio vaccine, I will do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking either of those vaccines.”

Unvaccinated patients risk more severe symptoms and health outcomes, with one in five ending up hospitalized from measles.

While the common symptoms include high fever, runny nose, red and watery eyes and a cough, followed by white spots in the mouth and a rash once the other symptoms appear, some patients end up with more serious conditions.

One in every 10 children who contract measles gets an ear infection, and one in 20 catches pneumonia, the most common cause of death for juvenile measles patients, according to the CDC.

One in every 1,000 children who catch measles suffers brain swelling, also known as encephalitis, that can cause convulsions, deafness and the development of intellectual disabilities.

In total, one to three of every 1,000 children who catch measles die from respiratory or neurological complications, the CDC says on its website.

The epicenter of the outbreak has a high number of families who file for conscientious exemption status and thereby keep their kids unvaccinated. In Gaines County, home to 80 of the 124 cases reported, 13.6% of K-12 students in the 2023-24 school year had exempt status.

Across Texas, only Bell and Crosby counties had more K-12 students exempt during that school year, according to TDSHS data.

Many of the cases are concentrated in a Mennonite community, though officials were quick not to assign blame to their religion in particular.

“The church isn’t the reason that they’re not vaccinated. It’s all personal choice, and you can do whatever you want. It’s just that the community doesn’t go and get regular health care,” TDSHS spokeswoman Lara Anton told The Associated Press this month.

At the Cabinet meeting, Mr. Kennedy also noted the outbreak’s impact on the Mennonite community in the area and said that “it’s not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year.”