Measles outbreak leaves first victim in Texas: unvaccinated child

An unvaccinated Texas boy has died of measles , the first fatality from the disease in nearly a decade in the United States, amid a growing outbreak in the country that has been downplayed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The death comes amid declining vaccination rates across the country, with the latest cases concentrated in a Mennonite religious community that has historically been resistant to vaccines.

It also comes as Kennedy Jr., who has been criticized for saying the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is linked to autism, begins his tenure as health secretary under President Donald Trump.

We recommend: Measles outbreak grows in Texas while vaccinations in the US decline.

"The unvaccinated school-aged child was hospitalized in Lubbock [northwest Texas] last week and tested positive for measles," the state health department said in a news release Wednesday. The city of Lubbock confirmed the child died "within the past 24 hours."

Since the beginning of the year, 124 cases of measles have been reported in West Texas and nine in neighboring New Mexico, the vast majority in unvaccinated children. About 20 have been hospitalized in Texas, and health officials warn that the outbreak is likely to worsen.

"I graduated from medical school in 2002 and I was confident that I would never see a measles outbreak unless I decided to work internationally," Lara Johnson, medical director of Covenant Children's Hospital in Lubbock, Texas, where the boy was treated, told reporters.

Unimportant

Speaking to reporters during a meeting of President Trump's Cabinet, Kennedy downplayed the situation, saying, "It's not unusual. There are measles outbreaks every year." He also mentioned two deaths, but neither the Texas nor New Mexico health departments confirmed a second fatality.

While multiple measles outbreaks in the United States have not resulted in any deaths, it was only a matter of time before one occurred," said infectious disease physician Amesh Adalja of Johns Hopkins University.

"Measles continues to kill more than 100,000 people worldwide each year. The deaths should serve as a reminder that the vaccine was developed for a reason and that it is valuable (...) These deaths are almost entirely preventable," Adalja added.

Religious exemptions

The epicenter of the outbreak is Gaines County, home to a significant Mennonite population, a Christian sect with a history of vaccine resistance.

Texas law allows vaccine exemptions for reasons of conscience. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends a 95 percent vaccination rate to maintain “herd immunity.”

However, coverage among kindergarten children has gone from 95.2 percent in the 2019-2020 school year to 92.7 percent in 2023-2024.

The last measles-related death in the United States was in 2015, when a woman in Washington state died of pneumonia caused by the virus. She had been vaccinated but was taking immunosuppressive drugs. Before that, there was one measles death in 2003.

Highly contagious

Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus that is transmitted through droplets when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes.

It poses a serious risk to the unvaccinated, including infants under 12 months of age who are not normally eligible for vaccination and those with weakened immune systems.

During outbreaks, about one in five infected people requires hospitalization and one in 20 develops pneumonia. In rare cases, measles causes brain inflammation and can be fatal.

The United States has reported 285 cases of measles in 2023, according to the CDC. The largest recent outbreak occurred in 2019, with 1,274 cases, mostly in Orthodox Jewish communities in New York and New Jersey — the highest national total in decades.

We recommend: Worrying rise in measles cases; vaccination coverage at 70%.

Before the measles vaccine was introduced in 1963, it is believed that millions of people contracted the disease annually and several hundred died.

Although measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000, outbreaks persist every year.

With information from AFP.

ORP