A second school-aged child has died from measles complications in West Texas, according to officials at UMC Health System in Lubbock.
The child, who had not been vaccinated, was hospitalized and receiving treatment when they died, said hospital spokesperson Aaron Davis on Sunday. The hospital did not disclose the exact date of the child’s death.
This marks the second pediatric measles death in Lubbock this year, and the third overall in the broader region. The first occurred in February, and a separate adult case in New Mexico resulted in a measles-related death in early March. All three victims were unvaccinated.
The death has yet to appear in official measles case reports released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the Texas State Department of State Health Services. Spokespersons for both agencies declined to comment on Sunday.
Now more than two months into the outbreak, health officials believe the West Texas outbreak has spread into neighboring New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas, and may be linked to additional cases in Mexico, according to the World Health Organization.
The outbreak has sickened nearly 570 people, with 81 new cases and 16 additional hospitalizations reported in Texas