Alarming measles outbreak in the US has claimed life of a child in Texas, marking first recorded death in a decade due to the epidemic.
As reported by CNN, the youngster was un-vaccinated and had been hospitalised in Lubbock, Texas.
During the joint press conference hosted by Covenant Health and the City of Lubbock Public Health on Wednesday, February 26, no personal details of the child including, age, pre-diagnosed conditions or schooling were made public.
This incident marks the first case of death in US since 2015, when a woman in Washington state passed away due to measles.
The number of confirmed cases in the recent outbreak in West Texas has reached 124, with the diseases mostly affecting children between the age of five to seventeen.
Furthermore, President Donald Trump was asked about the outbreak in his first cabinet meeting on Wednesday, he directed the question to secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who replied, "We are following the measles epidemic every day."
As per the reports, 18 un-vaccinated people have been hospitalised so far, which Kennedy said were "mainly for quarantine."
However, local health officials refuted the comment and informed the outlet that the patients were admitted for respiratory related issues, sharing, "We don’t hospitalise patients for quarantine purposes."
Measles is an airborne illness that can cause fever, rash, cough, and red eyes, and in some severe cases, it can lead to blindness and pneumonia, which is the major cause of death.
For the protection, health experts have encouraged to get vaccinated with the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine.
