Another child with measles in Texas has died, the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed late Saturday night, though the exact cause of death is under investigation, NBC News reported.

This would be the second pediatric death amid a fast-growing outbreak that’s infected nearly 500 people in Texas alone since January. An adult in New Mexico is also suspected of dying from measles. The deaths are the first from the disease in the United States in a decade. 

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was expected to attend the child’s funeral which is scheduled for Sunday, according to a spokesperson familiar with the plans.

As of Friday, the Texas Department of State Health Services said 481 cases of measles had been confirmed, a 14% jump over last week.

This includes six infants and toddlers at a Lubbock day care center who tested positive within the past two weeks.

Two of those children are among 56 people who’ve been hospitalized with measles in the area since the disease started spreading in late January, health officials said.

Around 1 to 3 out of every 1,000 children infected with measles die from respiratory and neurological complications, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And about 1 out of every 20 children with measles gets pneumonia, the most common cause of death from measles in young children.

Measles is a highly contagious airborne disease caused by a virus that can lead to severe complications and death.

The outbreak that began in Texas in late January has since spread to at least two other states.

Nationally, 628 measles cases in have been reported in at least 21 states and Washington, D.C. in 2025, according to an NBC News tally.

The number is likely a vast underestimate, considering that many people aren’t getting tested for the virus, according to Lubbock’s public health director, Katherine Wells.

Wells and other health officials are now imploring families to get their kids vaccinated against measles.

Two doses of the MMR vaccine are safe and 97% effective in preventing infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The first dose is generally given between 12 and 18 months, and the second is offered around age 5, when a child enters kindergarten.

During an outbreak, however, babies as young as 6 months old can get that first shot. 

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