2nd child with measles dies in Texas, according to state health officials

A second child in Texas has died of measles, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services, in a growing outbreak that has infected hundreds of people, the vast majority in unvaccinated communities in Texas.

"The school-aged child who tested positive for measles was hospitalized in Lubbock and passed away on Thursday from what the child’s doctors described as measles pulmonary failure," the statement said, in part. "The child was not vaccinated and had no reported underlying conditions."

The University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas, said the child had been receiving care for "complications of measles while hospitalized" and also emphasized, as the state health department did, that the child was unvaccinated with no underlying conditions.

An unvaccinated school-aged child also died of measles in Texas in late February, according to the Texas Department of Health Services – the first measles death in a decade in the United States. A week later, an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico died with measles, the New Mexico Department of Health reported.

Nationally, there are 642 confirmed cases across 22 states, but the vast majority — 499 cases — have been in Texas, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy posted on X on Sunday afternoon.

Kennedy visited Texas on Sunday to attend the funeral of the child who died and "comfort" the family, he said in the post. He said he'd developed a close relationship with the impacted community — which has largely been unvaccinated — including the family of the first child to die in the outbreak.

He added that the "most effective way to prevent the spread of measles" is the measles, mumps and rubella -- or MMR -- vaccine.

The HHS secretary, who has a long history of vaccine skepticism, has come under fire from public health officials for downplaying the measles outbreak and not advocating enough for widespread vaccination. In Kennedy's first public comments on the measles outbreak last month, he said that outbreaks were not "uncommon" because they happen every year and didn't mention or encourage the vaccine.

Public health experts who criticized Kennedy pointed out that outbreaks do not have to happen every year and are preventable with the MMR vaccine, which is 97% effective with two doses. Kennedy has since said that the vaccine is the "most effective way" to prevent measles, though has often also couched his support by encouraging alternative treatments and noting that it's a "personal choice."

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician who publicly wrestled with his support for Kennedy but eventually voted to support him as HHS secretary, said the second death in Texas proved that "top health officials" should be "unequivocally" encouraging the vaccine.

"Everyone should be vaccinated!" Cassidy wrote on X Sunday. "There is no treatment for measles. No benefit to getting measles. Top health officials should say so unequivocally [before] another child dies."

But Kennedy, shortly after his comments encouraging the vaccine, posted again later on Sunday night, this time commending two doctors who have advanced anti-vaccine rhetoric and promoted two medications that are not routinely recommended for the treatment of measles.

“I also visited with these two extraordinary healers, Dr. Richard Bartlett and Dr. Ben Edwards who have treated and healed some 300 measles-stricken Mennonite children using aerosolized budesonide and clarithromycin,” he wrote on X, in part. Kennedy made no mention of the MMR vaccine, its safety and efficacy.

Many public health experts describe these two treatments -- an inhaled steroid and an antibiotic -- as appropriate treatments for some ailments, but have no specific or proven benefits for the treatment of measles. Doctors might use the medications as part of overall supportive care or to address certain complications of measles, but health officials warn these treatments are not a cure-all, nor are they a substitute for the MMR vaccine.

The CDC, in guidance on its website, explicitly states that there is no specific treatment for measles once infected: “There is no specific antiviral therapy for measles. Medical care is supportive and to help relieve symptoms and address complications such as bacterial infections.”

The Texas Department of State Health Services said on April 4 that Texas is experiencing its worst measles outbreak in 30 years.

There are more than double the number of cases of measles in the U.S. in the first quarter of this year than the entirety of last year, which saw 285 cases nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

These are the highest number of measles cases in the U.S. since 2019, which saw 1,274 cases, according to the CDC. New Mexico is experiencing its worst measles outbreak in 40 years, with 54 cases. Kansas and Ohio are also experiencing outbreaks.

If the number of this year’s cases continues to grow at the current rate, the U.S. would likely surpass that 2019 number, which would lead to the highest number of cases in the U.S. since 1992.

The U.S. declared measles eliminated in the year 2000, after finding no continuous spread of the highly contagious disease over 12 months. The country would be at risk of losing that status if an outbreak continued for more than one year. The Texas outbreak saw its first measles cases in January, and experts say it could take months to contain the spread.

The CDC currently recommends that people receive two doses of the MMR vaccine, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective against measles.

In his statement on Sunday, Kennedy said a CDC team was deployed to Texas in early March to support state and local health officials, including by supplying pharmacies and clinics with MMR vaccines. Another CDC team would again be deployed, he said Sunday.

"I’ve spoken to Governor Abbott, and I’ve offered HHS’ continued support. At his request, we have redeployed CDC teams to Texas. We will continue to follow Texas’ lead and to offer similar resources to other affected jurisdictions," he said in the post.

Kennedy' visit to Texas comes shortly after the secretary announced cuts to one-fourth of the HHS workforce, including one-fifth of those employed by the CDC.

HHS also recently clawed back roughly $11 billion in funding from state and local health departments for COVID recovery efforts, saying the money was no longer needed as the pandemic was over. But health officials said the money was being used to better equip communities to deal with the spread of diseases — including measles — and better prepare for the next pandemic.

In Lubbock, the center of the outbreak, some public health workers received orders to stop work supported by grants that helped fund the response, said a spokesperson for city public health director Katherine Wells.

Dr. Philip Huang, the top health official for the city of Dallas, told ABC News that the cuts to the HHS funding and its workforce could also impact efforts to respond to the measles outbreak as it spreads across the state.

"This definitely impacts our measles response," he said. "We were looking to build out our lab capacity, some of our ability to get immunizations out into the community and into schools."

"These smaller health departments, they don't have many staff. You make a small cut and that takes away a considerable percentage of their workforce and ability to respond to anything at all," Huang said.

ABC News' Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.