Second Child With Measles Dies In Texas, According To Hospital Officials
A second child in Texas has died with measles, hospital officials have confirmed to ABC News.
"We are deeply saddened to report that a school-aged child who was recently diagnosed with measles has passed away," a spokesperson for the UMC Health System in Texas said in a statement to ABC News.
"The child was receiving treatment for complications of measles while hospitalized. It is important to note that the child was not vaccinated against measles and had no known underlying health conditions," the statement continued.
The child died on Thursday, a Trump administration official confirmed to ABC News.
In late February, an unvaccinated school-aged child died of measles in the Texas outbreak, according to the Texas Department of Health Services – the first measles death in the U.S. in a decade. A week later, an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico died with measles, the New Mexico Department of Health reported.
Texas is experiencing its worst measles outbreak in 30 years, with 481 cases and 56 hospitalizations. New Mexico is experiencing its worst measles outbreak in 40 years, with 54 cases. Kansas and Ohio are also experiencing outbreaks.
Nationally, there are 607 confirmed measles cases across 21 states nationwide, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which was last updated Friday. That number reflects 124 additional confirmed cases from last week's update.
A measles sign is seen at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Feb. 25, 2025, in Lubbock, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, file)
There are more than double the number of cases of measles in the U.S. in the first quarter of this year than the entirety of last year, which saw 285 cases nationwide, according to the CDC.
These are the highest number of measles cases since 2019, which saw 1,274 cases in the U.S., according to the CDC. If the number of this year’s cases continues to grow at the current rate, the U.S. would likely surpass that 2019 number, which would lead to the highest number of cases in the U.S. since 1992.
The U.S. declared measles eliminated in the year 2000 due to no continuous spread over 12 months. The country would be at risk of losing that status if an outbreak continued for more than one year. The Texas outbreak saw its first measles cases in January of this year.
The 21 states with confirmed cases include: Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Washington.
Among the nationally confirmed cases by the CDC, about 97% are in people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown, the agency said.
Of those cases, 1% are among those who received just one dose of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) inoculation and 2% are among those who received the required two doses, according to the CDC.
The CDC currently recommends that people receive two doses of the MMR vaccine, 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 against measles.
