A Texas child died of measles, the first fatality in an outbreak that infected over 130 people, state health officials reported Wednesday. The unvaccinated school-age child was admitted to a hospital in Lubbock last week and was found to be positive for the virus before passing away from the disease within 24 hours, local officials said.
The epidemic, which is concentrated in West Texas and spreading to New Mexico, has resulted in 18 hospitalizations, with most cases involving children. The epidemic has renewed concerns regarding declining vaccination rates, particularly among groups with vaccine reluctance.
Health Experts Warn of Preventable Deaths
Infectious disease specialist Amesh Adalja of Johns Hopkins University underscored the preventability of measles death. “Even though outbreaks in the United States more recently hadn’t yielded any deaths, it was only a matter of time,” he told AFP. Measles still accounted for over 100,000 deaths worldwide every year and implored the public to recognize the vaccine’s life-saving capability, Adalja said.
Gaines County, the epicenter of the outbreak, has a high Mennonite population, a Christian denomination that is extremely vaccine-skeptical. Texas law permits vaccination exemptions on religious or personal grounds, another reason for the outbreak of preventable diseases.
Highly Contagious Disease Sparks Concern
Measles, a highly infectious respiratory virus, is spread by airborne droplets when an infected person breathes, coughs, or sneezes. The disease is extremely risky, particularly to the unvaccinated, with one in five cases requiring hospitalization. Complications are serious and range from pneumonia, brain swelling, and, in the worst cases, death. Pregnant women are also at risk of complications, such as premature birth and low birth weight.
Despite being declared eradicated in the US in 2000, measles continues to return. The outbreak coincides with the appointment of US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy and is worrying due to his previous promotion of vaccine misinformation, including discredited claims linking the MMR vaccine to autism.