Second child dies in Wisconsin measles outbreak

A second child has died of measles in Wisconsin, the state's Department of Health Services said on Friday, in an outbreak that has now killed two children and infected more people than in any year in the state for more than three decades.

The department and the Grant County Health Department announced the death together, according to FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul. Officials released no details about the child. WPR reported that the department withheld information to protect the privacy of the child and the family.

The death came a week after officials announced that an infant had died of measles in the same southwestern Wisconsin outbreak, the state's first measles death since 1990.

The reports gave different case counts. 5 Eyewitness News and FOX 9, citing the health department, said Wisconsin had recorded 649 cases in 20 counties as of November 13. WPR reported 651 cases across 22 counties as of Friday. Both figures are the highest in the state in more than 35 years, and officials say the true number is larger because not everyone is tested or seeks care.

Dr Ryan Westergaard, the department's chief medical officer and state epidemiologist for communicable diseases, told PBS Wisconsin's Here & Now that it is safe to assume the state has "well over 1,000 cases". "When we investigate cases in the community, we hear about families saying that there are other families that we don't know about," WPR quoted him saying. He said Wisconsin typically saw between zero and two measles cases a year in the decade before the COVID-19 pandemic, and linked this year's spread to low childhood vaccination rates. "It's likely to continue to get worse," he said.

Measles spreads through the air and through close contact. Young children, pregnant people and those with weakened immune systems face the highest risk of complications, which include pneumonia and swelling of the brain.

Two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine are about 97 percent effective at preventing the disease. The department said last week that children as young as six months who face increased exposure should get a dose. 5 Eyewitness News reported that the agency has distributed nearly 2,000 MMR doses to communities with confirmed cases.

Wisconsin has the fourth-highest measles case count in the United States this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as cited by WPR. Pennsylvania reported its seventh measles-related death on Friday, and New York health officials said on Monday that a child had died there, that state's first measles death in more than 30 years.

The Wisconsin department urged residents to check their vaccination status and to stay home if they have been exposed.