A second unvaccinated school-aged baby 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, mentioned that the kid was “receiving remedy for issues of measles whereas hospitalized” and and didn’t have underlying well being situations. The hospital declined to say which day the kid died.
Neither the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention nor the Texas State Division of State Well being Companies included the demise of their measles reviews issued Friday. Spokespeople for the state well being division and U.S. Well being and Human Companies Division didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon Sunday.
A unvaccinated school-age baby died of measles in February in Lubbock — the primary measles demise 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 demise.
Greater than two months in, the West Texas outbreak is believed to have unfold to New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas, sickening almost 570 individuals. The World Well being Group additionally reported circumstances associated to Texas in Mexico.
50 canceled measles clinics, and different native affect from HHS cuts
The variety of circumstances in Texas shot up by 81 between March 28 and April 4, and 16 extra individuals have been hospitalized. A workforce from the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention is on the bottom in Texas helping with outbreak response.
Nationwide, the U.S. has greater than double the variety of measles circumstances 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 must 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.
Misinformation about the right way to forestall and deal with measles is hindering a sturdy public well being response, together with claims about vitamin A dietary supplements which have been pushed by Kennedy and holistic medication supporters regardless of medical doctors’ warnings that it must be given below a doctor’s orders and that an excessive amount of will be harmful.
Medical doctors at Covenant Youngsters’s Hospital in Lubbock, the place the primary measles demise occurred, say they’ve handled youngsters —fewer than 10 — for liver points from vitamin A toxicity, which they discovered when working routine lab assessments on undervaccinated youngsters who’ve measles. Dr. Lara Johnson, chief medical officer, mentioned the sufferers reported utilizing vitamin A to deal with and stop the virus.
Dr. Peter Marks, the Meals and Drug Administration’s former vaccine chief, mentioned accountability for the demise rests with Kennedy and his workers. Marks was compelled out of the FDA after disagreements with Kennedy over vaccine security.
“That is the epitome of an absolute useless demise,” Marks advised The Related Press in an interview Sunday. “These youngsters ought to get vaccinated — that’s the way you forestall individuals from dying of measles.”
Kennedy is anticipated to launch a Make America Wholesome Once more tour throughout the southwestern U.S. early this week.
Marks additionally mentioned he lately warned U.S. senators that extra deaths would happen if the administration didn’t mount a extra aggressive response to the outbreak. Kennedy has been known as to testify earlier than the Senate well being committee on Thursday.
Consultants and native well being officers anticipate the outbreak to go on for a number of extra months if not a 12 months. In West Texas, the overwhelming majority of circumstances are in unvaccinated individuals and kids youthful than 17.
With a number of states going through outbreaks of the vaccine-preventable illness — and declining childhood vaccination charges nationwide — some fear that measles might value 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 prone will get the virus if uncovered, in keeping with the CDC. The primary shot is beneficial for youngsters ages 12 to fifteen months, and the second for ages 4 to six years.
Sen. Invoice Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and doctor who had questioned Kennedy throughout his affirmation on his vaccine views, on Sunday issued a tweet urging “high well being officers” to encourage vaccination towards measles.
— Devi Shastri. AP reporter Amanda Seitz additionally contributed to this report.
