A second Texas child has died from measles; RFK Jr. visits

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SEMINOLE — An 8-year-old girl with measles died Thursday morning, the second known measles-related death in an ongoing outbreak that has infected nearly 500 Texans since January. Her funeral was Sunday at a church in Seminole followed by a private burial.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., visited the West Texas town that has been the epicenter of the outbreak Sunday and was expected to meet with the family.

"My intention was to come down here quietly to console the families and to be with the community in their moment of grief," Kennedy wrote on social media. He went on to describe the resources he deployed to Texas in March after another school-aged child died from measles, claiming that the "growth rates for new cases and hospitalizations have flattened" since Kennedy sent a team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state reported 59 new cases in three days last week.

The child who died Thursday, Daisy Hildebrand, was not vaccinated and had no known underlying health conditions, said a spokesperson for University Medical Center in Lubbock, where she had been hospitalized. She died from "measles pulmonary failure," the Texas Department of State Health Services reported Sunday.

"This unfortunate event underscores the importance of vaccination," Vice President of University Medical Center Aaron Davis said in a statement. "We encourage all individuals to stay current with their vaccinations to help protect themselves and the broader community."

The death comes about five weeks after unvaccinated 6-year-old Kayley Fehr died from measles, the first such death in the country in a decade. Fehr's parents said that their stance on vaccination did not change after their daughter's death.

The West Texas outbreak has sickened 481 people, most of whom are unvaccinated children, according to the state health department.

The outbreak began in Gaines County, located about 90 minutes southwest of Lubbock on the New Mexico border. Since then, cases have been reported in 18 other Texas counties, as far east as Erath County in central Texas.

The CDC has linked the Texas outbreak with measles cases in Oklahoma and New Mexico, where an unvaccinated individual who tested positive for measles died in March. And the World Health Organization reported that cases in Mexico were linked to Texas.

Measles is a highly contagious virus that spreads through respiratory droplets passed through the air by breathing, coughing and sneezing. Vaccination is the safest way to build immunity to the virus. Two doses of MMR vaccine are about 97% effective at preventing measles; one dose is about 93% effective, according to the CDC.

Measles was officially eliminated from the U.S. in 2000 following a highly successful vaccination program. But vaccine skeptics, fueled by misinformation and a disdain for COVID-era mandates, have sown distrust of public health and contributed to declining rates of vaccination. In Gaines County, 82% of kindergarteners are up to date on their MMR vaccine. Experts say communities need a 95% threshold to prevent the spread of measles.

A CDC spokesperson said in an email that Kennedy’s visit to Texas on Sunday resulted in discussions with Texas state health officials to deploy a second CDC response team to West Texas to further assist with the state’s efforts to protect its residents against measles and its complications.

Dr. Manisha Patel, incident manager for the CDC, said their team arrived in Gaines County in March and left on April 1. A spokesperson for the CDC said in light of today's news and Kennedy's order to re-deploy, another team will be in the county.

“We're learning a lot in Gaines County on how we can help other jurisdictions also prepare for measles in their states,” Patel said.

Patel said it’s important to go in with a sensitive approach when it comes to small, close-knit communities that are unvaccinated.

However, she said there are three pieces to their measles control measures: the vaccine, not traveling if you’re exposed, and staying at home.

“MMR is the best way to protect yourself, your families, your communities against measles,” Patel said. “And, if you're starting to get very sick from measles, not to delay care.”

Patel said for some communities, it’s important to find trusted messengers. In some cases, she said, the federal government might not be the best choice for that and it has to be someone in the community. To work around this, Patel said they’ve worked directly with state and local health departments to find who the trusted messengers are.

“Our role is making sure those trusted messengers have the materials and information they need,” Patel said. “So we translate, for example, materials into a German or Spanish or whatever the community needs.”

State health officials have said that the outbreak could persist for months. It has spread most quickly in pockets of Texas with below-average vaccination rates. In Gaines County, where a large unvaccinated Mennonite community resides, 315 people have been infected.

People infected with measles usually experience symptoms within a week or two of exposure. Early symptoms include high fever, runny nose and watery eyes. A few days later, a rash breaks out on the face and then spreads down the neck to the rest of the body. Infected individuals are contagious about four days before the rash appears and up to four days after, according to state health officials.

Doctors typically recommend all children get two doses of the MMR vaccine, starting with the first dose at 12 through 15 months and the second dose at 4 through 6 years of age.

Parents of infants aged 6 to 11 months living in outbreak areas should consult their pediatrician about getting the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, Sara Safarzadeh Amiri, chief medical officer for Odessa Regional Medical Center and Scenic Mountain Medical Center, said on Sunday.

Amiri said she was unaware of the second reported death but that it is not unexpected given the continued spread of the outbreak.

So far, 56 measles patients in Texas have been hospitalized, according to state health officials.

— Terri Langford contributed.

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