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From the Associated Press: LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — A child who was not vaccinated has died from measles in West Texas, the first death in an outbreak that began late last month and the first from measles in the U.S. since 2015.
The death was a “school-aged child who was not vaccinated” and had been hospitalized last week, the Texas Department of State Health Services said Wednesday in a statement. Lubbock health officials also confirmed the death, but neither agency provided more details. A news conference is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office.
The measles outbreak in rural West Texas has grown to 124 cases across nine counties, which state health officials have said is Texas’ largest in nearly 30 years. There are also nine cases in eastern New Mexico.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this is the first measles death in the U.S. since 2015.
In 2024, there was a huge measles outbreak in at a migrant shelter in Chicago that sickened more than 60 people.
The report explains that the outbreak in Texas is mostly spreading throughout a Mennonite community in West Texas where many children are unvaccinated. However, the report does not clarify where the virus originated or how it reached that community.
The CDC described the Measles illness as follows:
Measles is an acute viral respiratory illness. It is characterized by:
- A prodrome of fever (as high as 105°F), malaise, and cough, coryza, and conjunctivitis (three “C”s)
- A pathognomonic enanthema (Koplik spots)
- Followed by a maculopapular rash
- The rash usually appears about 14 days after a person is exposed. The rash spreads from the head to the trunk to the lower extremities.
Patients are considered to be contagious from 4 days before to 4 days after the rash appears. Sometimes immunocompromised patients do not develop the rash.
How it spreads: Measles is one of the most contagious of all infectious diseases. Up to 9 out of 10 susceptible people with close contact to a measles patient will develop measles.
The virus is transmitted by:
- Direct contact with infectious droplets.
- Airborne spread when an infected person breathes, coughs, or sneezes.
Measles virus can remain infectious in the air for up to 2 hours after an infected person leaves an area.
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