A CHILD in West Texas has died of measles, state health officials said on Wednesday, the first reported US death from the highly contagious disease in a decade, as a Texas outbreak has grown from a handful of cases to more than 130 across two states.

The child, who was not vaccinated against the disease, died overnight in a children’s hospital, the Texas Health department said in a statement.

“We have had so many kids coming in and then obviously we were not prepared, probably, so early in what we are seeing to have a death,” said Amy Thompson, CEO of Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, where the child died in what officials said was the fourth week of the measles outbreak.

During a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a vaccine critic who was confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services earlier this month, said two people had died in the Texas outbreak. His Department of Health and Human Services later corrected Mr. Kennedy, confirming one death.

At least 124 people were known to be infected in West Texas since early February, all but five of them unvaccinated and most of them children, Texas health officials said.

An additional nine cases were announced on Tuesday in eastern New Mexico, near the Texas state line where the outbreak has spread to about 10 counties, Texas health officials said.

Patients have displayed symptoms such as high fever, red watery eyes, nasal congestion, cough and a rash that begins on the face, said Lara Johnson, chief medical officer at the Lubbock hospital. Children have been treated with supplemental oxygen and high-flow oxygen, medication for high fever and IV fluids, she said.

New Mexico’s Health department has warned that “because measles is so contagious, additional cases are likely to occur.”

The US death rate from measles, which spreads through the air by respiratory droplets from coughing or sneezing, is 1 to 3 deaths out of every 1,000 reported cases, according to the US Centers for Disease Control  (CDC) and Prevention. The last US measles death was in 2015, according to the CDC.

A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Health Services was not available to Reuters for comment, but the agency said in a press release that 18 people were hospitalized with the disease.

The CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Kennedy was appointed to lead HHS after overcoming resistance from the medical establishment and some members of Congress, and has pledged to protect existing vaccination programs. Last week, he told agency workers he planned to investigate the childhood vaccination schedule, among other things.

‘A BAD ILLNESS’
Lara Anton, a Texas Health department spokesperson, told a local ABC affiliate that the ongoing outbreak has hit mostly small children and teenagers, and that the cases were originally concentrated in a “close-knit, under-vaccinated” rural Mennonite community in Gaines County, where children are largely home-schooled.

“It’s all a personal choice, and you can do whatever you want. It’s just that the community doesn’t go and get regular healthcare,” Ms. Anton told ABC.

At this time, it is unclear how the first person was exposed, and there is no indication that any early patients traveled outside the United States, Ms. Anton told multiple media.

“This will accelerate for a while,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Baylor University, in Waco, Texas, and a frequent target of the anti-vaccine campaign.

“It’s a bad illness,” he said, noting that about 20% of cases are hospitalized. “Unfortunately, Texas is the epicenter of it because of our very aggressive anti-vaccine movement,” he said.

Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, meaning there was no continuous transmission of the disease for a year.

In recent years, federal health officials have attributed some outbreaks to parents refusing to vaccinate their children, Reuters previously reported. — Reuters

US SUPREME COURT Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday paused a federal judge’s order requiring President Donald Trump’s administration to pay foreign aid funds to contractors and grant recipients.

Mr. Roberts issued an interim order placing on hold Washington-based US District Judge Amir Ali’s action that had imposed a deadline of 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday night.

Mr. Roberts provided no rationale for the order, known as an administrative stay, which will give the court additional time to consider the administration’s more formal request to block Mr. Ali’s ruling.

Mr. Roberts asked for a response from the plaintiffs — organizations that contract with or receive grants from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Department — by noon on Friday.

The order came after Mr. Trump’s administration said in a court filing on Wednesday it had made final decisions terminating most US foreign aid contracts and grants, while maintaining that it cannot meet Mr. Ali’s court-ordered deadline.

The administration is cutting more than 90% of the USAID’s foreign aid contracts and over $58 billion in overall US assistance around the world, a State Department spokesperson said separately, calling the cuts part of Mr. Trump’s “America First agenda.”

The foreign aid funding dispute arose from a pair of lawsuits brought by the aid organizations, alleging that the agencies have illegally frozen all foreign aid payments.

The Trump administration has kept those payments largely frozen despite a Feb. 13 temporary restraining order from Mr. Ali that they be released, and multiple subsequent orders that the administration comply, culminating in the Wednesday night deadline.

Lawyers for the US Justice department have maintained that the administration has a right to suspend its agreements while it reviews them to determine whether they comply with administration policy.

That review is now complete, the administration said in its new filing. It said USAID has made final decisions to cancel nearly 5,800 awards, while keeping more than 500, and that the State Department has canceled about 4,100 awards, while keeping about 2,700.

An administration official said in an earlier court filing that grounds for terminating contracts include that they were related to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility efforts, or were deemed wasteful.

Mr. Trump has taken a hard line on programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion, signing an executive order in his second day in office last month directing federal agency chiefs to dismantle DEI policies.

The administration said on Wednesday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had ordered that past-due invoices from the plaintiffs for work before January 24, when the payment freeze began, to be “expedited for payment without the ordinary vetting procedures, in a good-faith effort to comply” with Mr. Ali’s order. It said that while some money would be paid on Wednesday, full payments could take weeks.

Mr. Trump, a Republican, ordered a 90-day pause on all foreign aid on his first day in office last month. That order, and ensuing stop-work orders halting USAID operations around the world, have jeopardized the delivery of life-saving food and medical aid, throwing global humanitarian relief efforts into chaos.

USAID administers some 60% of U.S. foreign assistance and disbursed $43.79 billion in fiscal 2023. According to a Congressional Research Service report this month, its workforce of 10,000, of which about two-thirds serves overseas, assisted about 130 countries.

Trump’s administration on Sunday said it was placing all but leaders and critical staff at USAID on paid administrative leave and eliminating 1,600 positions. Employee unions have sued to challenge the cuts, though a judge last week allowed them to go ahead.

Mr. Ali, who was appointed by Mr. Trump’s Democratic predecessor, former President Joe Biden, issued his temporary restraining order to prevent irreparable harm to the plaintiffs while he considers their claims.

The plaintiffs allege Mr. Trump has exceeded his authority under federal law and the US Constitution by effectively dismantling an independent agency and canceling spending authorized by Congress.

The plaintiffs have said the administration has not done anything to comply with the restraining order, and some have said they will shut down within days if they are not paid.

“The lengths that the government is willing to go to flout a court order, all for the goal of ending life-saving humanitarian assistance, is staggering,” said Allison Zieve, a lawyer representing two plaintiffs, AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and Journalism Development Network, on Wednesday.

Other plaintiffs include international development company DAI Global and refugee assistance organization HIAS.

Both Mr. Ali and a Rhode Island federal judge in a separate case over a broader federal payment freeze have castigated the Trump administration for failing to follow their orders. The administration in both cases has maintained it is trying in good faith to interpret and comply with the orders. — Reuters