A second unvaccinated school-aged youngster 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, stated that the kid was “receiving therapy for problems of measles whereas hospitalized” and didn’t have underlying well being situations. The hospital declined to say which day the kid died.
The kid died Thursday of “what the kid’s medical doctors described as measles pulmonary failure,” the Texas State Division of State Well being Companies confirmed Sunday. Neither the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention nor the state well being division included the loss of life of their measles experiences issued Friday, however added it to their counts Sunday.
A unvaccinated school-age youngster died in February in Lubbock — the primary measles loss of life 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 loss of life.
Nationwide, the U.S. has greater than double the variety of measles circumstances 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 individuals. The World Well being Group additionally reported circumstances associated to Texas in Mexico. The variety of circumstances in Texas shot up by 81 between March 28 and April 4, and 16 extra individuals have been hospitalized.
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 needs 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.
Republican U.S. Sen. Invoice Cassidy from Louisiana, a liver physician whose vote helped cinch Kennedy’s affirmation, referred to as Sunday for stronger messaging from well being officers in a publish on X.
“Everybody needs to be vaccinated! There is no such thing as a therapy for measles. No profit to getting measles,” he wrote. “Prime well being officers ought to say so unequivocally b/4 one other youngster dies.”
A CDC spokesperson famous the efficacy of the measles vaccine on Sunday however stopped wanting calling on individuals to get it. Departing from long-standing public well being messaging round vaccination, the spokesperson referred to as the choice a “private one” and stated individuals ought to speak to their physician and “needs to be knowledgeable in regards to the potential dangers and advantages related to vaccines.”
Misinformation about methods to stop and deal with measles is hindering a strong public well being response, together with claims about vitamin A dietary supplements which have been pushed by Kennedy and holistic medication supporters regardless of medical doctors’ warnings that it needs to be given below a doctor’s orders and that an excessive amount of could be harmful.
Medical doctors at Covenant Kids’s Hospital in Lubbock, the place the primary measles loss of life occurred, say they’ve handled fewer than 10 kids for liver points from vitamin A toxicity, which they discovered when operating routine lab checks on undervaccinated kids who’ve measles. Dr. Lara Johnson, chief medical officer, stated the sufferers reported utilizing vitamin A to deal with and forestall the virus.
Dr. Peter Marks, the Meals and Drug Administration’s former vaccine chief, stated accountability for the loss of life rests with Kennedy and his employees. Marks was pressured out of the FDA after disagreements with Kennedy over vaccine security.
“That is the epitome of an absolute unnecessary loss of life,” Marks advised The Related Press in an interview Sunday. “These children ought to get vaccinated — that’s the way you stop individuals 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 stated he not too long ago 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 referred to 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 circumstances are in unvaccinated individuals 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 value 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 really helpful 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.
The Related Press Well being and Science Division receives help from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Instructional Media Group and the Robert Wooden Johnson Basis. The AP is solely accountable for all content material.