Lubbock, Texas – Unvaccinated child dies West Texas measurThe first death from an outbreak that began late last month and the first death from US measles since 2015.
The death was a “unvaccinated school-age child” and was hospitalized last week, the Texas Department of Health said in a statement Wednesday.
Covenant Children's Hospital in Lubbock did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Melissa Whitfield, a spokesman for the Center for Health Sciences at Texas Institute of Technology, first confirmed the overnight death on Wednesday morning.
Measles outbreak In West Texas, the state's health officials have grown to 124 cases in nine counties that state health officials say are Texas. The largest in nearly 30 years.
There are nine cases in eastern New Mexico.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed this was the country's first measles death since 2015.
Measles cases were the worst in almost 30 years of 2019, with an increase in cases 2024including outbreaks in Chicago I've been sick over 60.
The outbreak is largely spread in the Mennonite community in west Texas. There, small towns are separated by vast oil-equipped open lands, but connected for people moving between jobs, churches, grocery shopping and other towns. business.
Data from the Texas Department of Health shows that the majority of cases are among people under the age of 18.
Gaines County, with 80 cases, won one of the highest fees in Texas, opting out of at least one needed vaccine, and nearly 14% of K-12 children from 2023-24 occupies the following.
Measles is a respiratory virus that can survive in the air for up to 2 hours.
Of the 10 most susceptible people, up to nine will ingest the virus if exposed. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Most children recover from measles when they acquire measles, but infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, swelling of the brain, and death.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control “provides technical assistance, lab support and vaccines” to West Texas, the agency told the Associated Press, but the state health department is taking the lead in the outbreak investigation.
