First measles death is reported in the West Texas outbreak that’s infected more than 120 people

A person who was hospitalized has died from measles in West Texas, the first death in an outbreak that began late last month.

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center spokesperson Melissa Whitfield confirmed the death Wednesday. It wasn’t clear the age of the patient, who died overnight.

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. There are also nine cases in eastern New Mexico.

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. Gaines County, which has 80 cases, has one of the highest rates in Texas of school-aged children who opt out of at least one required vaccine, with nearly 14% of K-12 children in the 2023-24 school year.

Texas health department data shows the vast majority of cases are among people younger than 18. State health officials have said this outbreak is Texas’ largest in nearly 30 years.

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 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 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.

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This story has been corrected to show that Melissa Whitfield with Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center provided the confirmation of the death, not the spokesperson for the city of Lubbock.

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