Second child with measles has died in Texas, officials say

A second child with measles in Texas has died, although the exact cause of death is unknown at this time, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. plans to attend the child’s funeral on Sunday, a spokesperson told NBC News.

The pair of children and an adult in New Mexico who is also believed to have died from measles are the first reported deaths in connection with the disease in the country in a decade.

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Since January, 481 cases of measles have been confirmed in Texas alone, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

That total includes six infants and toddlers at a day care center in Lubbock who tested positive within the past two weeks, according to NBC News. Two of those children are among 56 people who have been hospitalized with measles in the area since the disease began spreading in January.

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About one to three out of every 1,000 children infected with measles die from respiratory and neurological complications, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About one out of every 20 children with measles suffers from pneumonia, which is the most common cause of death from measles in young children.

The measles outbreak began in Texas in late January but has since spread to a few other states.

In the U.S., 628 measles cases have been reported in at least 21 states and Washington, D.C., so far this year, according to NBC News.