College-aged youngster dies in Texas amid outbreak concentrated amongst followers of Christian sect.
The US has reported its first measles demise in a decade after an unvaccinated youngster fell sick amid an outbreak of the extremely contagious illness in Texas.
The varsity-aged youngster died in a single day after being hospitalised in Lubbock, northwest Texas, the state’s well being division mentioned in an announcement on Wednesday.
The demise comes amid falling immunisation charges within the US and controversy over the appointment of vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jr because the nation’s high well being official.
Greater than 130 measles circumstances have been reported in Texas and the neighbouring state of New Mexico this yr, virtually all of them in individuals who weren’t vaccinated.
Well being officers have mentioned a lot of the circumstances have been concentrated in a group of followers of the Mennonite Christian sect, pockets of that are recognized for being cautious of vaccines.
Addressing the outbreak at US President Donald Trump’s first cupboard assembly on Wednesday, Kennedy, who has promoted scientifically discredited analysis linking vaccines to autism, downplayed the outbreak as “common”.
“By the way, there have been 4 measles outbreaks this yr on this nation,” Kennedy advised reporters.
“Final yr, there have been 16. So, it’s common. Now we have measles outbreaks yearly.”
The variety of measles circumstances within the US hit an almost two-decade peak of 1,274 in 2019, earlier than plummeting in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Authorities reported 285 circumstances in 2024, up from 59 in 2023 and 121 the yr earlier than that.
The World Well being Group declared measles eradicated from the US in 2000 – that means no outbreaks had persevered for a yr or extra – however that standing has come underneath menace in recent times amid rising anti-vaccine sentiment.
The US final reported a measles-related demise in 2015, after 12 years with out a fatality linked to the illness.
Measles will be extraordinarily harmful for people who find themselves not vaccinated, together with younger infants who aren’t often eligible for immunisation.
About one in 5 unvaccinated individuals within the US who get measles are hospitalised, and as many as one out of each 20 youngsters with measles get pneumonia, in accordance with the CDC.
