LUBBOCK, Texas In West Texas, a measles outbreak that started late last month has claimed one life.
Melissa Whitfield, a spokesman for Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, confirmed the death on Wednesday. Currently unknown are the patient’s age, the fact that they passed away overnight, and other specifics.
A request for comment from Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock was not immediately answered.
The state health department reported on Tuesday that there are now 124 cases of measles spread over nine counties in rural West Texas.
The region’s measles vaccination rates fall short of what is required to stop outbreaks.
In eastern New Mexico, there are nine measles cases as well.
The respiratory virus that causes measles can linger in the atmosphere for up to two hours. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that up to 90% of vulnerable individuals will contract the virus if exposed. If a child contracts measles, the majority will recover, but infection can cause fatal consequences like pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling, and more.
Because people travel between towns for work, church, food shopping, and other daily tasks, the outbreak is mostly spreading among the Mennonite community in an area where small villages are separated by big expanses of open ground dotted with oil rigs.
The Associated Press
