A second unvaccinated child has died of measles in Texas, according to state health officials and the hospital in Lubbock, Texas, that treated the child.
“We are deeply saddened to report that a school-aged child who was recently diagnosed with measles has passed away," a representative for UMC Health System in Lubbock said in a statement emailed to Ars Technica. "The child was receiving treatment for complications of measles while hospitalized. It is important to note that the child was not vaccinated against measles and had no known underlying health conditions. This unfortunate event underscores the importance of vaccination."
US Health Secretary and anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. identified the child as 8-year-old Daisy Hildebrand. Media reports indicated that she died early Thursday morning.
The girl's death is the third in an ongoing and raging measles outbreak that erupted in undervaccinated counties in Western Texas in late January. An unvaccinated 6-year-old with no underlying medical conditions died in Lubbock in February. And an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico, who did not seek medical care, died in early March and tested positive for measles posthumously. The cause of death is still under investigation.
As of April 4, the outbreak has reached a total of at least 569 cases, with 58 hospitalizations: Texas has identified 481 measles cases and 56 hospitalizations; New Mexico reports 54 cases, two hospitalizations; Kansas has 24 cases; and Oklahoma reports 10 cases.
UMC and the Texas health department announced the girl's death on Sunday, April 6. Media reports also landed that day. But news of the child's death first came to light on Saturday, April 5—in a newsletter published by Robert Malone, an anti-vaccine advocate and peddler of conspiracy theories who came to prominence during the pandemic.
Malone announced the death, saying the news came from a Texas doctor (who Malone oddly noted was licensed). In the void before official confirmation or other information, Malone preemptively claimed that measles was not the cause of the child's death. "[T]his is again a case of a child suffering from pre-existing conditions who was misdiagnosed," Malone wrote. He also claimed on social media that he had reviewed the child's medical records and that a subsequent New York Times article reporting measles as the cause of death was "an outright lie."
UMC's statement contradicts Malone's claims. The New York Times also obtained the girl's medical records and reported that the cause of death listed by her doctors was "measles pulmonary failure."
Meddling from anti-vaccine advocates
Malone's early reporting and misinformation on the death is another concerning example that anti-vaccine advocates are meddling in the response to the devastating and mushrooming outbreak. Anti-vaccine advocates and their ilk—seemingly emboldened by Kennedy's status as the country's top health official—have descended upon the undervaccinated communities in Texas amid the outbreak, pushing unproven prevention methods and treatments, such as vitamin A, cod liver oil, and the glucocorticoid budesonide, which is used to treat asthma and Crohn's disease.
In a social media post Sunday, Kennedy promoted two such practitioners who have become popular in West Texas among vaccine-hesitant families: Ben Edwards and Richard Bartlett. In 2003, Bartlett was disciplined by the Texas Medical Board for "unusual use of risk-filled medications" in multiple patients, including children. The medications included intravenous antibiotics and hefty doses of glucocorticoids.
Meanwhile, Edwards treated the siblings of the first child who died of measles. The family sought care from Edwards for their other four children, who were also unvaccinated and fell ill from measles after their 6-year-old sibling died. Edward's involvement was revealed in an interview with the deceased child's parents, which was led by the rabid anti-vaccine organization Kennedy founded and until recently headed, Children's Health Defense.
In the interview, the CHD representatives, like Malone, led the parents to believe that the child's death was not from measles and that vaccines are harmful. The mother of the child concluded in the interview to deter other parents from immunizing their children against measles, despite the death of her daughter: "Don't do the shots. There [are] doctors that can help with measles. [Measles is] not as bad as they're making it out to be," she said, through a translator of low German.
The message from Kennedy and these alternative practitioners has clearly impacted the communities in West Texas. Some unvaccinated children hospitalized with measles have signs of vitamin A toxicity, doctors told The Washington Post.
Three deaths amid an outbreak with under 600 reported measles cases are also raising questions. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 1 to 3 of every 1,000 children who become infected with measles will die from respiratory and neurologic complications. Three reported deaths so far in the outbreak could be a statistical blip. But health experts are questioning whether the outbreak is much larger than known—if parents are not bringing their sick children to health providers—and/or if parents are delaying care, relying on unproven treatments, which could up the risk of life-threatening cases. The CDC also estimates that about 20 percent of US children with measles are hospitalized. With 58 hospitalizations reported so far, the percentage is about half of what's expected.
