A college-aged little one in Texas has died after contracting measles, the primary loss of life to consequence from the present outbreak spreading all through the South Plains area of the state the place greater than 120 instances have been confirmed up to now.
The Texas Division of State Well being Companies on Wednesday mentioned in a press release that an unvaccinated little one has died in Lubbock, Texas after having been hospitalized for measles the week prior.
Nearly all of measles instances confirmed within the state have been detected in school-aged kids. About 81 p.c of measles instances have been detected in folks beneath the age of 18. Of the 124 infections detected up to now, 5 are vaccinated whereas the remaining usually are not.
Among the many contaminated, 18 folks have been hospitalized.
The outbreak is spreading in an space with a big group of Mennonites, lots of whom reject typical medication like vaccines although the church itself doesn’t maintain an anti-vaccine stance.
In Texas’s Gaines County, the place the vast majority of instances have been detected, one college district was discovered to have a Okay-12 vaccine exemption fee of 47.95 p.c.
Measles is extremely transmissible, with one contaminated particular person able to infecting 9 out of 10 folks they encounter. Whereas there aren’t any particular antivirals for measles, the illness may be prevented with one course of a two-dose measles, mumps and rubella vaccination. Most instances will resolve with supportive care however infections carry the chance of pneumonia and encephalitis that would result in everlasting disabilities.
