An infant in southwestern Wisconsin has died of measles, the first measles death in the state in 36 years, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services announced on Thursday.
The coroner listed measles as the immediate cause of death, according to the department. Officials said they would not release any further details about the child, including age or vaccination status, to protect the family’s privacy.
“My heart is broken for the family,” said Kirsten Johnson, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. “Any death of a child is a tragedy and even more so when it is related to a vaccine-preventable disease.”
The death is the third measles-related death reported in the United States this week. An infant died in New York on Monday, and a resident of Pennsylvania died on Wednesday, according to state health departments.
Wisconsin is in the middle of its largest measles outbreak in more than three decades. As of November 3, the state had recorded 431 cases across 13 counties this year, the highest count in over 35 years. Nine people have been hospitalised, and all but three of the cases were in people who had not been vaccinated.
Transmission has mainly occurred in Amish and Mennonite communities in the southwest of the state, with the largest case counts reported in Grant, Lafayette and Iowa counties. Cases were first reported to the public in early August, although health officials say people began showing symptoms in early July.
Two doses of the measles vaccine are 97 percent effective at preventing infection, health officials say. On November 3, the department recommended that babies aged six months and older who are likely to be exposed to measles receive an early “zero dose” of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, before their first regular dose between 12 and 15 months of age.
Between 500 and 600 of those early doses have been given to Wisconsin infants since August, according to the department’s immunisation programme manager, Stephanie Schauer. More than 42,000 doses of the measles vaccine have been administered across the state since August, and the department has delivered more than 2,000 doses to local health departments responding to the outbreak.
Nationally, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 4,852 measles cases this year, the most since 1991. The CDC’s official death toll stands at four, although state health departments have reported a higher number of deaths.
Health officials in Wisconsin are urging families to make sure children and adults are up to date with their measles vaccination and to recognise the symptoms early. Measles symptoms usually begin a week or two after infection with a high fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes, followed a few days later by a rash that starts on the face and spreads across the body.
“If we do things right, we can have a world where no one dies of measles,” said Dr Ryan Westergaard, the state’s chief medical officer and epidemiologist. “That’s what we’re aiming at.”
