A child who has not been vaccinated died of measles in western Texas, the first death in an epidemic that started at the end of last month and the first in measles in the United States since 2015.
Death was a “child of school age who was not vaccinated” and had been hospitalized last week, the Texas State Department Health Services said on Wednesday in a statement. Lubbock health officials have also confirmed the death, but none of the agencies had no more details. A press conference is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
The Covenant Children’s Hospital of Lubbock did not immediately respond to a request for comments, any more than the office of the Governor of Texas Greg Abbott.
The measles epidemic in rural regions of western Texas increased to 124 cases in nine counties, which said that state health officials were the largest in Texas in almost 30 years. There are also nine cases in eastern New Mexico.
Measles were declared eradicated in Canada in 1998, but with the drop in vaccination rates, new cases are increasing. 95 people were infected during the first two months of this year, compared to 147 for all 2025.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention American confirmed that it was the first death of measles in the country since 2015. More than 60.
The epidemic is largely propagated in the Mennonite community of western Texas, where small cities are separated by large expanses of open land for stacking oil platform, but connected due to people traveling between cities For work, church, grocery store and other races.
Most cases are people under the age of 18
The data from Texas Health Department show that the vast majority of cases in the region are among people under the age of 18. Vaccines against measles, mumps and rubella – which is safe and very effective in preventing infection and serious cases – is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old for the first time, the second coming between four and Six years.
The vaccination series is required for children before entering kindergarten in public schools in the United States, but cases of measles in western Texas have been concentrated in a Mennonite community “Mennonite Subricot and Sous Vaccinated, said the spokesperson for the State Health Department, Lara Anton, especially among families “who frequent small private religious schools or are educated at the House.
The County of Gaines, which has 80 cases, has one of the highest prices in Texas of school -aged children who withdrew at least one vaccine required, with almost 14% of children from kindergarten to 12th year During the school year 2023-24.
In Canada, 95 Case of measles have been reported so far this year, said Dr Theresa Tam, director of public health in Canada. There were 147 cases of measles for the whole year in Canada.
Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba reported new cases in the last week. Most cases have not been vaccinated, according to local health officials.
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