A person who was hospitalized with measles has died from measles in West Texas, the first death in an outbreak that began late last month. The Texas Department of State Health Services on Wednesday confirmed the death. DSHS said the patient was an unvaccinated school-aged child. Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The measles outbreak in rural West Texas has grown to 124 cases across nine counties, the state health department said Tuesday. DSHS said most of the cases are in children and 18 people have been hospitalized over the course of the outbreak. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed this is the first measles death in the country since 2015. Measles cases were the worst in almost three decades in 2019, and there was a rise in cases in 2024, including an outbreak in Chicago that sickened more than 60. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is “watching” the outbreak, which he described as “not unusual” during a Wednesday meeting of President Donald Trump’s cabinet members. The health secretary did not provide specifics on how or if the federal agency is assisting on the ground. MORE: https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/health/measles/texas-measles-death-outbreak-lubbock/285-636380ac-1d18-4404-999d-b804f40137af