The Texas Department of State Health Services on Wednesday confirmed the death. DSHS said the patient was an unvaccinated school-aged child.
LUBBOCK, Texas — A person who was hospitalized with measles has died from measles in West Texas, the first death in an outbreak that began late last month.
The Texas Department of State Health Services on Wednesday confirmed the death. DSHS said the patient was an unvaccinated school-aged child.
Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The measles outbreak in rural West Texas has grown to 124 cases across nine counties, the state health department said Tuesday. DSHS said most of the cases are in children and 18 people have been hospitalized over the course of the outbreak.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed this is the first measles death in the country since 2015. Measles cases were the worst in almost three decades in 2019, and there was a rise in cases in 2024, including an outbreak in Chicago that sickened more than 60.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is “watching” the outbreak, which he described as “not unusual” during a Wednesday meeting of President Donald Trump’s cabinet members. The health secretary did not provide specifics on how or if the federal agency is assisting on the ground.
“The loss of a child is a tragedy,” and Gov. Greg Abbott and his wife are praying for “the family, loved ones and the entire Lubbock community,” Abbott spokesman Andrew Mahaleris said. He added that the governor’s office is in “regular communication” with the state health department, that epidemiologists and vaccination teams are in the “affected area,” and that there are “daily situation updates and coordination calls” with local health officials.
“The state will deploy all necessary resources to ensure the safety and health of Texans,” Mahaleris said.
Vaccination rates across the U.S. have declined nationwide since the COVID-19 pandemic and most states are below the 95% vaccination threshold for kindergartners — the level needed to protect communities against measles outbreaks. Measles cases were the worst in almost three decades in 2019, and there was a rise in cases in 2024, including an outbreak in Chicago that sickened more than 60.
Measles is a respiratory virus that can survive in the air for up to two hours. Up to 9 out of 10 people who are susceptible will get the virus if exposed, according to the CDC. Most kids will recover from the measles if they get it, but infection can lead to dangerous complications like pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and death.
The outbreak is largely spreading in the Mennonite community in an area where small towns are separated by vast stretches of oil rig-dotted open land but connected due to people traveling between towns for work, church, grocery shopping and other day-to-day errands.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Measles symptoms
Symptoms usually begin 7 to 14 days after infection, the CDC says.
- High fever (may spike to more than 104°)
- Cough
- Runny nose
- Red, watery eyes or conjunctivitis
- Tiny white spots may appear inside the mouth two to three days after symptoms begin
A rash typically appears three to five days after the first symptoms, according to the CDC. It usually begins as flat red spots that appear on the face at the hairline. They then spread downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs, and feet.
- Small raised bumps may also appear on top of the flat red spots.
- The spots may become joined together as they spread from the head to the rest of the body.
- When the rash appears, a person’s fever may spike to more than 104° Fahrenheit.
