Second Measles Death in the U.S.
The New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) announced Thursday that an unvaccinated adult has tested positive for measles, marking the first measles-related death in the state in more than 40 years.
The first death from the highly contagious disease in a decade was reported in Texas, an unvaccinated child.
As of Feb. 27, 164 measles cases had been reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from nine states: Alaska, California, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island and Texas.
Measles typically kills one to three people out of every 1,000 cases, according to Dr. Tina Tan, an infectious disease specialist at Northwestern University in Chicago.
