(SRN NEWS/REUTERS) – A child in West Texas has died of measles, state health officials said on Wednesday, the first reported U.S. death from the highly contagious disease in a decade, as a Texas outbreak has grown from a handful of cases to more than 130 across two states.
The child, who was not vaccinated against the disease, died overnight in a children’s hospital, the Texas health department said in a statement.
“We have had so many kids coming in and then obviously we were not prepared, probably, so early in what we are seeing to have a death,” said Amy Thompson, CEO of Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, where the child died in what officials said was the fourth week of the measles outbreak.
During a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a vaccine critic who was confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services earlier this month, said two people had died in the Texas outbreak. His Department of Health and Human Services later corrected Kennedy, confirming one death.
At least 124 people were known to be infected in West Texas since early February, all but five of them unvaccinated and most of them children, Texas health officials said.
An additional nine cases were announced on Tuesday in eastern New Mexico, near the Texas state line where the outbreak has spread to about 10 counties, Texas health officials said.