Second Measles Death Reported

A second child has died amid an ongoing measles outbreak in West Texas and the surrounding regions, officials confirmed over the weekend, with hospital reports suggesting the 8-year-old girl in Lubbock succumbed to measles-related pulmonary failure. The two victims—both reportedly unvaccinated and part of a local Mennonite community—are the first confirmed measles deaths in the US since 2015. 

The contagious airborne disease causes rashes, fever, and respiratory issues (how it works, w/video), with young children and immunocompromised people at higher risk. The deployment of a vaccine in 1963 and subsequent public health campaigns led to the disease being declared eliminated—meaning no continuous, endemic transmission—in the US in 2000. 

Of the 607 measles cases reported this year, almost 90% (535 cases) are linked to the outbreak straddling West Texas and eastern New Mexico (see current stats). Roughly 97% are in unvaccinated patients or those whose vaccination status is unknown. 

See historical measles rates back to 1919 here.