Second child dies from measles-related causes as Texas outbreak continues to spread

A second school-aged child has died in Texas from a measles-related illness, a hospital spokesperson confirmed Sunday. The child’s death comes as an outbreak of measles originating in West Texas continues to spread.

Aaron Davis, a spokesperson for UMC Health System in Lubbock, Texas, said that the child was “receiving treatment for complications of measles while hospitalized” and was not vaccinated. The hospital declined to say which day the child died. Doctors said she had no other health conditions and died from measles pulmonary failure.

Neither the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nor the Texas State Department of State Health Services include the death in their measles reports issued Friday. Spokespeople for the state health department and U.S. Health and Human Services Department didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. traveled to Gaines County on Sunday. In a post on X, he said he was there “to comfort the Hildebrand family after the loss of their 8-year-old daughter Daisy.”

“I am also here to support Texas health officials and to learn how our HHS agencies can better partner with them to control the measles outbreak, which as of today, there are 642 confirmed cases of measles across 22 states, 499 of those in Texas,” Kennedy said on X.

The first measles death in a decade

An unvaccinated school-age child died of measles in February in Lubbock — the first measles death in the U.S. in a decade. In early March, an adult in New Mexico who was unvaccinated and did not seek medical care became the second measles-related death.

More than two months in, the West Texas outbreak is believed to have spread to New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas, sickening nearly 570 people. The World Health Organization also reported cases related to Texas in Mexico.

The number of cases in Texas shot up by 81 between March 28 and April 4, and 16 more people were hospitalized. A team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is on the ground in Texas assisting with outbreak response.

Measles cases double from last year

As of the latest CDC update on Friday, April 4, the U.S. has confirmed at least 607 measles cases so far this year, which is more than double the number of cases it saw in all of 2024. There have been cases in at least 21 states, including Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, New Mexico and New York. The CBS News data team is tracking confirmed measles cases nationwide as state health departments and the CDC continue to release data. This map is updated with new data from the CDC on Fridays.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist, has delivered a tepid message on the importance of vaccination against measles, saying it should be encouraged while also sowing doubt in the vaccine’s safety. He is expected to launch a Make America Healthy Again tour across the southwestern U.S. early this week.

Sunday, Kennedy said in a post on X that “The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine.”

The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine has been used safely for more than 60 years and is 97% effective against measles after two doses.

Dr. Peter Marks, the Food and Drug Administration’s former vaccine chief, said responsibility for the death rests with Kennedy and his staff. Marks was forced out of the FDA after disagreements with Kennedy over vaccine safety.

“This is the epitome of an absolutely needless death,” Marks told The Associated Press in an interview Sunday. “These kids should get vaccinated — that’s how you prevent people from dying of measles.”

Marks also said he recently warned U.S. senators that more deaths would occur if the administration didn’t mount a more aggressive response to the outbreak. Kennedy has been called to testify before the Senate health committee on Thursday.

Texas doctors on high alert  

The death of a second unvaccinated child with measles in West Texas has doctors in North Texas, like Dr. Carla Garcia Carreno, the Children’s Medical Center Plano director for infection prevention and control, on high alert. 

“Measles, as we know, it’s a preventable disease. Unfortunately, a majority of the cases that we’re seeing right now in the outbreak are in unvaccinated people,” Garcia Carreno said.

Garcia Carreno said the hospital has been preparing to see patients in North Texas since the measles outbreak started in West Texas in January.

“They need to be seen, and it’s very important to try to get the test as early as possible and isolate those people that are suspected to have the measles or have the measles,” Garcia Carreno said.

Garcia Carreno said to check your medical records to see if you’ve gotten the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. You can get a blood test if you can’t find your vaccine history. The blood test checks for measles antibodies.

“We do need to have a population that is immune against measles,” Garcia Carreno said. “At least 95% of the population needs to be protected, either immune because of the vaccination or because they have a history of having had the infection.”

Garcia Carreno said the vaccine is 93% effective after one dose and 97% effective after two doses. Babies as young as six months can get an early dose.

“Unvaccinated adults can receive the vaccine with doses at least 28 days apart,” Garcia Carreno said.

About 20%of unvaccinated children who get measles may need to be hospitalized, and between one to three cases in every 1,000 is fatal.

“If you get the measles and are unvaccinated, your immune system is going to be suppressed for weeks to months and seven to 10 years later, even more than that, you can have a very fatal, brain inflammation,” Garcia Carreno said.

Experts said it’s even more important to get vaccinated ahead of the busy summer travel season to keep the virus under control.

CDC teams deploy 

Kennedy said Sunday that in March, he deployed a CDC team “to bolster local and state capacity for response across multiple Texas regions, supply pharmacies and Texas-run clinics with needed MMR vaccines and other medicines and medical supplies, work with local schools and healthcare facilities to support contact investigations, and to reach out to communities, including faith leaders, to answer any questions or respond to locations seeking healthcare.”

The Health Secretary said, at Gov. Greg Abbott’s request, CDC teams have been redeployed to Texas.

Experts and local health officials expect the outbreak to go on for several more months if not a year. In West Texas, the vast majority of cases are in unvaccinated people and children younger than 17.

With several states facing outbreaks of the vaccine-preventable disease, some worry that measles may cost the U.S. its status as having eliminated the disease.

Measles is a respiratory virus that can survive in the air for up to two hours. Up to 9 out of 10 people who are susceptible will get the virus if exposed, according to the CDC. The first shot is recommended for children ages 12 to 15 months, and the second for ages 4 to 6 years.