A second school-aged child in West Texas has died from a measles-related illness, a hospital spokesman confirmed Sunday, as the outbreak continues to swell.
Aaron Davis, a spokesperson for UMC Health System in Lubbock, Texas, said that the child was 鈥渞eceiving treatment for complications of measles while hospitalized鈥 and was not vaccinated. The hospital declined to say which day the child died.
Neither the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nor the Texas State Department of State Health Services include the death in their measles reports issued Friday. Spokespeople for the state health department and U.S. Health and Human Services Department didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday.
A unvaccinated of measles in February in Lubbock 鈥 the first measles death in the U.S. in a decade. In early March, an adult in New Mexico who was unvaccinated and did not seek medical care became the .
More than two months in, the outbreak is believed to have spread to New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas, . The World Health Organization also reported cases related to Texas in Mexico.
The number of cases in Texas shot up by 81 between March 28 and April 4, and 16 more people were hospitalized. A team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is on the ground in Texas assisting with outbreak response.
Nationwide, the U.S. has more than double the number of it saw in all of 2024.
Health Secretary , a , has delivered a on the importance of , saying it should be encouraged while also sowing doubt in the vaccine鈥檚 safety. He is expected to launch a Make America Healthy Again tour across the southwestern U.S. early this week.
The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine has been used safely for more than 60 years and is 97% effective against measles after two doses.
, said responsibility for the death rests with Kennedy and his staff. Marks was forced out of the FDA after disagreements with Kennedy over vaccine safety.
鈥淭his is the epitome of an absolute needless death,鈥 Marks told The Associated Press in an interview Sunday. 鈥淭hese kids should get vaccinated 鈥 that鈥檚 how you prevent people from dying of measles.鈥
Marks also said he recently warned U.S. senators that more deaths would occur if the administration didn鈥檛 mount a more aggressive response to the outbreak. Kennedy has been called to testify before the Senate health committee on Thursday.
Experts and local health officials expect the outbreak to go on for if not a year. In West Texas, the vast majority of cases are in unvaccinated people and children younger than 17.
With several states facing outbreaks of the vaccine-preventable disease, some worry that measles may cost the U.S. its status as having eliminated the disease.
Measles is a respiratory virus that can survive in the air for up to two hours. Up to 9 out of 10 people who are susceptible will get the virus if exposed, . The first shot is recommended for children ages 12 to 15 months, and the second for ages 4 to 6 years.
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AP reporters Amanda Seitz and Matthew Perrone contributed to this report.
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