Unvaccinated child dies in Texas measles outbreak
School-aged child who was not vaccinated was hospitalized in Lubbock last week
A child who wasn't vaccinated died in a measles outbreak in rural West Texas, state officials said Wednesday, the first U.S. death from the highly contagious — but preventable — respiratory disease since 2015.
The school-aged child had been hospitalized and died Tuesday night amid the widespread outbreak, Texas's largest in nearly 30 years. Since it began last month, a rash of 124 cases has erupted across nine counties.
The Texas Department of State Health Services and Lubbock health officials confirmed the death to The Associated Press. The child wasn't identified but was treated at Covenant Children's Hospital in Lubbock, though the facility noted the patient didn't live in Lubbock County.
"This is a big deal," Dr. Amy Thompson, a pediatrician and chief executive officer of Covenant Health, said Wednesday at a news conference. "We have known that we have measles in our community, and we are now seeing a very serious consequence."
More than 20 measles patients have been hospitalized at Covenant, including the outbreak's first identified case, hospital officials said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed this is the first measles death in the country since 2015. Measles cases were the worst in almost three decades in 2019, and there was a rise in cases in 2024, including an outbreak in Chicago that sickened more than 60.
Later Wednesday, the state health department confirmed a new measles case in Rockwall County, east of Dallas. The person had traveled internationally and is not related to the West Texas outbreak.
Most cases are people under 18
Texas health department data shows the vast majority of cases in the area are among people younger than 18. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine — which is safe and highly effective at preventing infection and severe cases — is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old for the first shot, with the second coming between the ages of four and six.
The vaccine series is required for kids before entering kindergarten in public schools in the U.S. But the measles cases in west Texas have been concentrated in a "close-knit, undervaccinated" Mennonite community, state health department spokesperson Lara Anton has said, especially among families who attend small private religious schools or are homeschooled.
Gaines County, which has 80 cases, has one of the highest rates in Texas of school-aged children who opt out of at least one required vaccine, with nearly 14 per cent of K-12 children in the 2023-24 school year.
In Canada, 95 measles cases have been reported so far this year, says Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's chief public health officer. There were 147 measles cases for all of last year in Canada.
Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba reported new cases in the last week. Most of the cases haven't been vaccinated, local health officials say.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
With files from CBC News
