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Vials of the vaccine known as MMR. It protects against measles, mumps and rubella diseases. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption
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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
A school-age child has died from measles in west Texas. The death of the child, who was not vaccinated for measles, was confirmed by state and local health officials and comes after weeks of a growing outbreak that spans West Texas and New Mexico.
More than 130 people have been sickened with measles in the two states, most of them children under the age of 18.
Measles is a very contagious respiratory disease that was declared to be eliminated from the U.S. in 2000 due to high rates of inoculation with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, known as the MMR shot.
But in the last five years or so, school vaccination rates have fallen below 95% — which is the CDC's recommended level for preventing outbreaks.
The vaccination rate is far lower, in pockets like the Texas county at the center of the current outbreak — where the rate has dropped to around 80%.
