One hundred and twenty-four. That was the Texas health department’s count of measles cases on Tuesday, up from 90 the Friday before, and by Wednesday one of the patients had died. The victim was an unvaccinated child who tested positive and died in a Texas hospital, officials said. It is the first measles death in the US in nearly a decade; the Infectious Diseases Society of America puts the last one in 2015.
Almost all the cases, 101 of them, are in people 17 and younger. Eighteen people in the outbreak have been hospitalized, according to the state health department, and five of the infected Texans had been vaccinated.
A count in dispute
Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, a past vaccine sceptic, raised the death toll to two at the first cabinet meeting of President Donald Trump’s current term. Katherine Wells, who directs the public health department in Lubbock, where the death occurred, later said there has been one. The US Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment on the number.
Kennedy also said measles outbreaks are common, with four so far this year in the US. The CDC defines an outbreak as three or more related cases. He added that his department was watching the Texas one closely, and told the cabinet that 20 people were in hospital to quarantine.
Where it has spread
The outbreak is centred in north-west Texas and is believed to have started in a rural Mennonite community with low vaccination rates, according to CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, and local media. The CDC lists cases in New Mexico, Alaska, California, Georgia, New Jersey, New York City and Rhode Island as well. New Mexico has nine, four of them in children.
Texas vaccination rates stand at 94.3%, according to the CDC. That is below the 95% level the Infectious Diseases Society of America says is needed to protect people who cannot be immunized, the effect usually called herd immunity. Most US children get two shots, which together are 97% effective, per the CDC.
“Measles was rare in the United States, but outbreaks are occurring in areas where vaccination rates have fallen,” the American Academy of Pediatrics said in a statement. “Most children who get measles are not up to date on recommended vaccines or are not old enough to get measles vaccine.”
What the disease does
Complications can be devastating for pregnant women and young children: pneumonia, neurological impairment, hearing loss and death. Survivors face a risk of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, a degenerative disease of the brain and nervous system.
The US reported 285 cases in all of last year, the highest number since 1,274 in 2019.
New Mexico’s congressional delegation, all Democrats, wrote to Kennedy on Monday urging him to “launch a vaccination promotion campaign” and rehire recently fired federal health workers. “Just last Friday, two dozen employees at the CDC charged with training public laboratory staffers and supporting outbreak response efforts were fired,” they wrote.
In Lubbock, free vaccination clinics are running for hours each day this week.
