An infant has died of measles amid a growing outbreak in southwestern Wisconsin, state health officials announced Thursday, the state’s first measles death in more than three decades.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services said the local coroner listed measles as the immediate cause of death. Officials did not release the infant’s age, vaccination status or other details, citing the family’s privacy.
The death comes as Wisconsin experiences its largest measles surge in more than 35 years and as outbreaks continue in several parts of the country. Wisconsin now joins Pennsylvania and New York in reporting measles deaths this year. Before the recent resurgence, measles deaths had become exceedingly rare in the United States.
From 2001 through 2022, a 22-year period, just three measles deaths were reported nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It is with a heavy heart we are reporting the first death of an infant connected with a measles outbreak in Wisconsin in many years,” Health Secretary Kirsten Johnson said in a statement. “Measles can cause serious illness and death.”
Wisconsin’s outbreak began in the summer, and has grown to 431 measles cases in 13 counties. It’s the highest number of cases seen in the state in more than 35 years. Nine people have been hospitalized.
Officials cautioned that the true number of infections may be higher because some people with measles do not seek medical care or get tested. All but three cases have been in people who did not received the measles vaccine, which is 97 percent effective at preventing infection.
The highly contagious respiratory disease was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, meaning it was no longer spreading continuously within the country. But declining childhood vaccination rates have left growing pockets of people susceptible to the virus and fueled large outbreaks last year and this year.
Infants and children younger than 5 are among those at greatest risk of severe complications. Measles can cause pneumonia and encephalitis, or swelling of the brain, and can be especially dangerous for pregnant people and those with weakened immune systems.
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