Second US child dies of measles, almost 650 ill – officials
A health worker prepares a measles vaccine in a hospital of Montenegro’s capital Podgorica on February 16, 2020. Experts say a vaccination uptake of at least 95 percent of the two-dose jab is needed to avoid the spread of measles, the highly contagious airborne disease that can be fatal. For decades, aversion to the MMR shot has been rooted in rampant misinformation tied to a widely debunked 1998 study that suggested a link between autism and the vaccine. The United Nations has repeatedly warned that a “perfect storm” was brewing for new outbreaks of preventable diseases, with the pandemic disrupting access to routine vaccinations. (Photo by SAVO PRELEVIC / AFP)
WASHINGTON, United States — A measles outbreak has killed a second child in the southwestern United States, authorities said Sunday, with almost 650 people now infected as the highly contagious disease spreads.
“We are deeply saddened to report that a school-aged child who was recently diagnosed with measles has passed away,” Aaron Davis, vice president of UMC Health System, a medical center in Texas, told AFP.
The child had been receiving treatment for “complications of measles” in hospital, he said, adding they were “not vaccinated against measles and had no known underlying health conditions.”
READ: Texas child dies in measles outbreak, first US fatality in years
As the US grapples with its worst measles outbreak in years, President Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has alarmed health experts with his past rhetoric downplaying the importance of vaccines.
Kennedy, however, posted on X Sunday that “the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine.”
He added that his Health and Human Services (HHS) department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were supporting distribution of the shots in Texas.
Kennedy, who said he had traveled to Texas to comfort the child’s family, also tallied “642 confirmed cases of measles across 22 states, 499 of those in Texas” as of Sunday.
The CDC has recorded cases stretching from Alaska to Florida, as well as in New York City.
Texas had reported its first measles death, also of a child, in late February — marking the first US fatality from the disease in nearly a decade.
The death of a New Mexico adult last month was also classified by the CDC as a measles-related fatality.
The vast majority of measles cases tallied by the CDC — 97 percent — are patients not vaccinated against the measles, it said on April 3.
Some 196 of them were under five years old, 240 were aged 5-19, and an additional 159 were aged 20 years or older, with a few others of unknown age, the health agency said.
The CDC, which defines an “outbreak” as three or more related cases, has recorded six outbreaks so far in 2025. Some 93 percent of the confirmed cases are related to those outbreaks.
“For comparison, 16 outbreaks were reported during 2024 and 69 percent of cases (198 of 285) were outbreak-associated,” it said on its website.
“This unfortunate event underscores the importance of vaccination,” Davis, of UMC Health System in Texas, said in an email regarding the latest death.
“We encourage all individuals to stay current with their vaccinations to protect themselves and the broader community.”
