Measles death of unvaccinated child in Texas outbreak is 1st fatality in US in a decade

An unvaccinated school-aged child in Texas has died of measles, the first death associated with an outbreak in the western part of the state that has infected more than 100 people.

Lubbock city spokesperson Lauren Adams confirmed the death to ABC News on Wednesday.

In a press release, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) said the child was hospitalized in the northwestern city of Lubbock last week and tested positive for measles.

As of Wednesday, 124 cases of measles have been confirmed associated with the outbreak, according to data from DSHS.

Almost all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, and 18 people have been hospitalized so far, DSHS said.

Children and teenagers between ages 5 and 17 make up the majority of cases with 62, followed by 39 cases among children ages 4 and under.

The outbreak began in Gaines County, which has become the epicenter, with 80 cases confirmed among residents, according to DSHS.

The outbreak has since spread to several counties in the region and is "suspected" to have spread into New Mexico, according to New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH). Nine cases have been confirmed in Lea County, which borders Texas. Of the nine cases, four are among children, according to NMDOH.

"This death underscores the real danger of measles -- it's a severe disease that can take lives despite being preventable with vaccination," said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and ABC News contributor. "Every new case is a reminder of why vaccination is critical. Tragically, with an outbreak of this scale, a fatal case was not unexpected, especially among those unvaccinated. Given how contagious measles is, we anticipate more cases in the coming weeks."

Dr. Lara Johnson, a pediatrician for nearly two decades and the chief medical officer at Covenant Children's and Covenant Health, said she never expected to be working in the midst of a measles outbreak.

"This is the first time I've had any professional experience with a measles outbreak," Johnson told ABC News. "I saw one travel-related case when I was in medical school, very briefly, but at that time, back in around 2000, we really thought that we'd eradicated measles from the United States and didn't have any anticipation of seeing any outbreaks here."

Johnson says her health system has had about 20 unvaccinated patients hospitalized in this outbreak over the last several weeks. Most have been kids admitted due to difficulty breathing associated with pneumonia, but so far, they have not had cases of encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain.

Dr. Ari Brown, a pediatrician in Austin and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, told ABC News, "We've been getting numerous calls at our office," about whether their kids and babies can get a measles shot early.

"I've seen measles, and it's horrible," Brown said. "Those kids are super sick, and you've seen it once, and you can't unsee it."

During Wednesday's Cabinet meeting, Health and & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. responded to a question about the outbreak, saying the agency was following the cases in Texas.

Kennedy appeared to downplay the outbreak, noting there have been four outbreaks so far this year compared to 16 last year. However, the number of cases in Texas alone amounts to nearly half of the 285 cases confirmed in 2024.

"It's not unusual; we have measles outbreaks every year," he said.

Kennedy also claimed the reason the children were hospitalized was for quarantine purposes. Johnson said during a press conference on Wednesday that children are not hospitalized for quarantine.

Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known to humans. Just one infected patient can spread measles up to nine out of 10 susceptible close contacts, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Health officials have been urging anyone who isn't vaccinated to receive the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine.

The CDC currently recommends people receive two vaccine doses, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective. Most vaccinated adults don't need a booster.

Measles was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000, due to the highly effective vaccination program, according to the CDC. However, vaccination rates have been lagging in recent years.

About 93% of kindergarteners nationwide received select routine childhood vaccines, including the MMR vaccine, for the 2022-23 school year, according to a November 2023 CDC report.

This is about the same as the previous school year, but lower than the 94% seen in the 2020-22021 school year and the 95% seen in the 2019-2020 school year, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The latter percentage had been the standard for about 10 years.

ABC News' Youri Benadjaoud and Dr. Jade Cobern contributed to this report.