Child Dies of Measles as Vaccination Rates Drop

A school-aged child died of measles in Texas on February 25, becoming the first pediatric death from the disease in the United States in more than two decades. The death marks a sobering milestone as measles cases increase across the country.

Measles is especially dangerous for infants and young children. The virus can break through a baby's underdeveloped blood-brain barrier and attack brain tissue directly, causing a condition called primary measles encephalitis. This brain inflammation is more common in infants than older children.

Babies cannot receive their first measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine until they are 12 to 15 months old. They get a second shot between ages 4 and 6. Before they can be vaccinated, infants rely on community immunity - when enough people around them are vaccinated to prevent disease spread.

In Los Angeles, another child recently died from a rare measles complication years after initially recovering from the disease. That child had contracted measles as an infant before being eligible for vaccination.

Measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000 thanks to widespread vaccination. But outbreaks have returned as vaccination rates drop in some communities, putting vulnerable children at risk.