A school-age child in Texas has died after contracting measles, the first death to result from the current outbreak spreading throughout the South Plains region of the state where more than 120 cases have been confirmed so far.
The child was the first person to die of measles in the U.S. since 2015.
The Texas Department of State Health Services said in a statement Wednesday that an unvaccinated child has died in Lubbock after having been hospitalized for measles the week prior.
The majority of measles cases confirmed in the state have been detected in school-age children, with about 81 percent of measles cases detected in people under 18. Of the 124 people confirmed to have been infected, five are vaccinated.
Among the infected, 18 people have been hospitalized.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said during President Trump’s Cabinet meeting on Wednesday that two people had died in the outbreak. However, the Texas Health Department said later in the day it was only aware of one death.
Kennedy, a longtime skeptic of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, seemed to downplay any concerns about the outbreak or the child’s death.
“We are following the measles epidemic every day,” Kennedy said. “Incidentally, there have been four measles outbreaks this year in this country. Last year there were 16. So it’s not unusual, we have measles outbreaks every year.”
But measles outbreaks, defined as three or more related cases, are unusual — though declining vaccination rates among schoolchildren mean there’s a risk of more.
There have been three outbreaks reported in just the first two months of 2025, compared to 16 outbreaks and 285 total cases reported during 2024, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2023, there were just four outbreaks and 59 total cases.
The outbreak is spreading in an area with a large community of Mennonites, many of whom reject conventional medicine such as vaccines, though the church itself does not hold an anti-vaccine stance.
In Texas’s Gaines County, where the majority of cases have been detected, one school district was found to have a K-12 vaccine exemption rate of 47.95 percent.
Measles is highly transmissible, with one infected individual capable of infecting 9 out of 10 people they encounter. While there are no specific antivirals for measles, the disease can be prevented with one course of a two-dose measles, mumps and rubella vaccination. Most cases will resolve with supportive care, but infections carry the risk of pneumonia and encephalitis that could lead to permanent disabilities.
Updated: 5:04 p.m.
