A second school-aged child in West Texas has died from complications of measles as the ongoing outbreak continues to spread, a hospital spokesman confirmed on Sunday.
Aaron Davis, a spokesperson for UMC Health System in Lubbock, Texas, stated that the child was “receiving treatment for complications of measles while hospitalized” and was unvaccinated. The hospital did not disclose the specific date of the child’s death.
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The death is not yet included in the measles reports issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the Texas State Department of State Health Services (DSHS) as of Friday. Representatives from the DSHS and the U.S. Health and Human Services Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday.
This is the second measles-related death in Lubbock during the outbreak. An unvaccinated school-age child died in February, marking the first measles death in the U.S. in a decade. In early March, an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico who did not seek medical care became the second measles-related death.
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The West Texas outbreak, which has persisted for over two months, is believed to have spread to New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas, with nearly 570 people contracting the disease. The World Health Organization has also reported cases linked to Texas in Mexico.
The number of measles cases in Texas has increased significantly, with 81 new cases reported between March 28 and April 4. Sixteen additional individuals have been hospitalized. The CDC has deployed a team to Texas to assist with the outbreak response.
Nationwide, the U.S. has recorded more than double the number of measles cases compared to the total cases reported in all of 2024.
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