A second unvaccinated school-aged child in West Texas died from a measles-related illness, a hospital spokesman confirmed Sunday, as the outbreak continues to swell.
Aaron Davis, a spokesperson for UMC Health System in Lubbock, Texas, said that the child was receiving treatment for complications of measles while hospitalized and did not have underlying health conditions. The hospital declined to say which day the child died.
Neither the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nor the Texas State Department of State Health Services include the death in their measles reports issued Friday. Spokespeople for the state health department, the CDC and the U.S. Health and Human Services Department didnt immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday.
A unvaccinated school-age child died in February in Lubbock the first measles death in the U.S. in a decade. In early March, an adult in New Mexico who was unvaccinated and did not seek medical care became the second measles-related death.
Nationwide, the U.S. has more than double the number of measles cases it saw in all of 2024.
More than two months in, the West Texas outbreak is believed to have spread to New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas, sickening nearly 570 people. The World Health Organization also reported cases related to Texas in Mexico. The number of cases in Texas shot up by 81 between March 28 and April 4, and 16 more people were hospitalized. A team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is on the ground in Texas assisting with outbreak response.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist, has delivered a tepid message on the importance of vaccination against measles, saying it should be encouraged while also sowing doubt in the vaccines safety. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine has been used safely for more than 60 years and is 97% effective against measles after two doses.
Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy from Louisiana, a liver doctor whose vote helped cinch Kennedys confirmation, called Sunday for stronger messaging from health officials in a post on X.
Everyone should be vaccinated! There is no treatment for measles. No benefit to getting measles, he wrote. Top health officials should say so unequivocally b/4 another child dies.
Misinformation about how to prevent and treat measles is hindering a robust public health response, including claims about vitamin A supplements that have been pushed by Kennedy and holistic medicine supporters despite doctors warnings that it should be given under a physicians orders and that too much can be dangerous.
Doctors at Covenant Childrens Hospital in Lubbock, where the first measles death occurred, say theyve treated fewer than 10 children for liver issues from vitamin A toxicity, which they found when running routine lab tests on undervaccinated children who have measles. Dr. Lara Johnson, chief medical officer, said the patients reported using vitamin A to treat and prevent the virus.
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