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.
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.
Early symptoms
- 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
Measles rash
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.
