{"id":108230,"date":"2025-03-10T23:46:43","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T04:46:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=108230"},"modified":"2025-03-10T23:47:21","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T04:47:21","slug":"108230","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=108230","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Second Measles Death Reported in American Southwest Measles Outbreak.<\/a><\/p>\n

This time, the patient was an adult who did not seek medical care before death.<\/p>\n

In late February, I reported that a child had died of measles in an outbreak reported in West Texas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, there is a second measles death being reported. The second death in the ongoing measles outbreak, this time in New Mexico, involved an\u00a0unvaccinated adult from Lea Count<\/a>y.<\/p>\n

The individual did not seek medical care before death, New Mexico health department officials said. The official cause of death is under investigation by New Mexico\u2019s Office of the Medical Investigator. However, the state health department scientific laboratory has confirmed the presence of the measles virus in the person, the state health department said.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The person was a resident of Lea County, where at least 30 cases of measles have been reported. Lea County is just over the border from Gaines County, Texas, where the outbreak is centered. At least seven of the individuals were unvaccinated.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026State officials declined to release the person\u2019s age, sex and underlying medical conditions or disclose whether contact tracing is underway to identify others who may have been exposed to one of the world\u2019s most contagious viruses. The virus is airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

As I noted before,\u00a0pre-existing conditions can worsen the severity of any disease, including measles. Furthermore, death from measles is usually the result of pneumonia,\u00a0pre-existing health issues<\/a>\u00a0that affect the\u00a0respiratory system can exacerbate the severity of measles symptoms and complications.<\/p>\n

Therefore, without the complete set of facts, it is hard to form a complete picture as to why these infections resulted in fatality.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, there has been an uptick in the\u00a0number of cases in New Mexico<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Also Friday, the New Mexico Department of Health reported 30 measles cases in Lea County, 20 more than had previously been identified in the state.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Health officials in both states said cases are expected to increase due to the highly contagious nature of measles.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In Texas, 23 patients have been hospitalized, one more than previously reported. Sixty-four cases are among people younger than 4, and 89 are among people 5 to 17. Cases have been identified in nine counties, but the majority, 137, are in Gaines County, where the outbreak was first identified.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Free vaccination clinics are opening up in Texas and New Mexico to prevent the outbreak from expanding.<\/p>\n

Free vaccination clinics are opening up in Texas and New Mexico to prevent the outbreak from expanding.<\/p>\n

Health workers are hosting regular vaccination clinics and screening efforts in Texas. They are also working with schools to educate people about the importance of\u00a0vaccination and offering shots<\/a>.<\/p>\n

New Mexico medical providers are being urged to watch for and report measles infections, while state health authorities are attempting to trace and notify people who may have been exposed. The state health department is also doing free vaccination clinics in Hobbs and Lovington this week.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Second Measles Death Reported in American Southwest Measles Outbreak. This time, the patient was an adult who did not seek medical care before death. In late February, I reported that a child had died of measles in an outbreak reported in West Texas. Now, there is a second measles death being reported. The second death … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,12,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health-medicine","category-immigration","category-law-order"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=108230"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108232,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108230\/revisions\/108232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=108230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=108230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=108230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}