Second US child dies of measles, almost 650 ill

WASHINGTON

A measles outbreak has killed a second child in the southwestern United States, authorities said, with almost 650 people now infected as the highly contagious disease spreads.

"We are deeply saddened to report that a school-aged child who was recently diagnosed with measles has passed away," Aaron Davis, vice president of UMC Health System, a medical center in Texas, told AFP.

The child had been receiving treatment for "complications of measles" in hospital, he said, adding they were "not vaccinated against measles and had no known underlying health conditions."

As the U.S. grapples with its worst measles outbreak in years, President Donald Trump's health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has alarmed health experts with his past rhetoric downplaying the importance of vaccines.

Kennedy, however, posted on X that "the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine."

He added that his Health and Human Services (HHS) department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were supporting distribution of the shots in Texas.

Questioned by journalists aboard Air Force One, Trump appeared to downplay the outbreak as "so far a fairly small number of people relative to what we're talking about."

But he added that if it "progresses, we'll have to take action very strongly," without giving further details.

The CDC has recorded cases stretching from Alaska to Florida, as well as in New York City.

Texas had reported its first measles death, also of a child, in late February, marking the first U.S. fatality from the disease in nearly a decade.

The death of a New Mexico adult last month was also classified by the CDC as a measles-related fatality.