A second unvaccinated school-aged little one in West Texas died from a measles-related sickness, a hospital spokesman confirmed Sunday, because the outbreak continues to swell.
Aaron Davis, a spokesperson for UMC Well being System in Lubbock, Texas, mentioned that the kid was “receiving remedy for issues of measles whereas hospitalized” and didn’t have underlying well being circumstances. The hospital declined to say which day the kid died.
Neither the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention nor the Texas State Division of State Well being Companies embody the demise of their measles studies issued Friday. Spokespeople for the state well being division, the CDC and the U.S. Well being and Human Companies Division did not instantly reply to requests for touch upon Sunday.
A unvaccinated school-age little one died in February in Lubbock — the primary measles demise within the U.S. in a decade. In early March, an grownup in New Mexico who was unvaccinated and didn’t search medical care grew to become the second measles-related demise.
Learn Extra: What to Know In regards to the Measles Vaccine
Nationwide, the U.S. has greater than double the variety of measles instances it noticed in all of 2024.
Greater than two months in, the West Texas outbreak is believed to have unfold to New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas, sickening almost 570 folks. The World Well being Group additionally reported instances associated to Texas in Mexico. The variety of instances in Texas shot up by 81 between March 28 and April 4, and 16 extra folks had been hospitalized. A workforce from the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention is on the bottom in Texas helping with outbreak response.
Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist, has delivered a tepid message on the significance of vaccination towards measles, saying it ought to be inspired whereas additionally sowing doubt within the vaccine’s security. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine has been used safely for greater than 60 years and is 97% efficient towards measles after two doses.
Misinformation about the best way to forestall and deal with measles is hindering a sturdy public well being response, together with claims about vitamin A dietary supplements which have been pushed by Kennedy and holistic drugs supporters regardless of medical doctors’ warnings that it ought to be given underneath a doctor’s orders and that an excessive amount of might be harmful.
Docs at Covenant Kids’s Hospital in Lubbock, the place the primary measles demise occurred, say they’ve handled fewer than 10 youngsters for liver points from vitamin A toxicity, which they discovered when operating routine lab exams on undervaccinated youngsters who’ve measles. Dr. Lara Johnson, chief medical officer, mentioned the sufferers reported utilizing vitamin A to deal with and stop the virus.
Dr. Peter Marks, the Meals and Drug Administration’s former vaccine chief, mentioned duty for the demise rests with Kennedy and his employees. Marks was compelled out of the FDA after disagreements with Kennedy over vaccine security.
“That is the epitome of an absolute useless demise,” Marks instructed The Related Press in an interview Sunday. “These children ought to get vaccinated — that’s the way you forestall folks from dying of measles.”
Kennedy is predicted to launch a Make America Wholesome Once more tour throughout the southwestern U.S. early this week.
Marks additionally mentioned he just lately warned U.S. senators that extra deaths would happen if the administration didn’t mount a extra aggressive response to the outbreak. Kennedy has been known as to testify earlier than the Senate well being committee on Thursday.
Consultants and native well being officers anticipate the outbreak to go on for a number of extra months if not a yr. In West Texas, the overwhelming majority of instances are in unvaccinated folks and kids youthful than 17.
With a number of states going through outbreaks of the vaccine-preventable illness — and declining childhood vaccination charges nationwide — some fear that measles might price the U.S. its standing as having eradicated the illness.
Measles is a respiratory virus that may survive within the air for as much as two hours. As much as 9 out of 10 people who find themselves vulnerable will get the virus if uncovered, in line with the CDC. The primary shot is beneficial for kids ages 12 to fifteen months, and the second for ages 4 to six years.
—AP reporters Amanda Seitz and Matthew Perrone in Washington contributed to this report.
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