A second child in Texas has died from measles, bringing the total number of deaths to two since February 26, as the state grapples with a rapidly evolving outbreak that has affected nearly 500 people. The cause of death for the eight-year-old girl remains under investigation, though reports indicate she died from “measles pulmonary failure” early last Thursday in a hospital in Lubbock, Texas. The girl is the second to die from the disease which could have been easily prevented through vaccination, with her parents not having her vaccinated either. The Trump administration’s health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has often undermined vaccine safety, is reported to attend the funeral of the second child. A third unvaccinated person in New Mexico also died after contracting measles, though officials have yet to confirm the cause of death. Despite having been declared eliminated from the US in 2000, measles has made a recent comeback in undervaccinated communities. Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Ohio, and Oklahoma are now the five states with active outbreaks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that the US has reported over 600 measles cases so far this year, more than the total number for all of 2024. Gaines county, with only 23,000 residents, accounts for more than 65% of Texas’s measles cases, indicating the severity of the outbreak in this undervaccinated region.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/06/texas-measles-death-child