An unvaccinated New Mexico adult who tested positive for measles has died, the second death in a growing outbreak centered along the Texas-New Mexico border, officials said Thursday.
The individual did not seek medical care before death, New Mexico health department officials said. The official cause of death is under investigation by New Mexico’s Office of the Medical Investigator. However, the state health department scientific laboratory has confirmed the presence of the measles virus in the person, the state health department said.
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The person was a resident of Lea County, where at least 30 cases of measles have been reported. Lea County is just over the border from Gaines County, Texas, where the outbreak is centered. At least seven of the individuals were unvaccinated.
In all, 228 cases have been reported in the two states. Officials have said the actual number is probably much higher.
State officials declined to release the person’s age, sex and underlying medical conditions or disclose whether contact tracing is underway to identify others who may have been exposed to one of the world’s most contagious viruses. The virus is airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs.
The death follows the Feb. 26 death in Texas of an unvaccinated and otherwise healthy 6-year-old. That death was the first measles fatality since 2015.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “is closely monitoring the situation and in communication with state health authorities,” according to a statement issued by Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services. “CDC recommends vaccination as the best protection against measles infections.”
The measles outbreak poses the first major health crisis for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose public remarks in recent days have focused on the use of vitamin A to combat the outbreak. State and local officials have emphasized that vaccination is the only way to prevent contracting measles.
Kennedy also has said measles vaccines protect children and contribute to broader immunity in the community, but he has recommended that parents consult with health-care providers about the shot. “The decision to vaccinate is a personal one,” he said in an op-ed on the Fox News website Sunday.
Public health experts have said the deaths are a tragic reminder of the seriousness of the disease. With measles cases, 1 in 5 require hospitalization and approximately 1 or 2 in every 1,000 cases result in death, the New Mexico health department said Thursday.
Kennedy, who in his years as an anti-vaccine activist criticized measles shots and boosted vitamin A as a treatment, continues to tout the vitamin’s benefits.
Anti-vaccine activists have long touted vitamin A as an alternative to immunization, concerning public health experts and doctors, who worry that Kennedy’s public statements will legitimize that view.
In an interview Tuesday with Fox News, Kennedy said doctors in Texas were using vitamin A and cod liver oil, “which has high concentrations of vitamin A and vitamin D, to treat patients.” In the interview with Fox News senior medical analyst Marc Siegel, Kennedy also said: “And they’re seeing what they describe as almost miraculous and instantaneous recovery from that. We need to look at those therapies and other therapies.”
The World Health Organization recommends the vitamin to help protect against measles complications such as pneumonia, vision loss and death, largely based on studies in countries where the virus is endemic and malnutrition is more common.
Experts acknowledge that vitamin A can be beneficial after someone has gotten sick, but they say it is not a replacement for vaccination to prevent measles. Vitamin A deficiency in the United States affects less than 1 percent of the population, according to a CDC report.
With ongoing exposures in Lea County, the New Mexico health department urged residents to be vaccinated to protect themselves and their families. Patients are considered contagious from four days before to four days after the telltale measles rash appears.