The measles outbreak in Texas has gotten deadlier, just as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., visited the state over the weekend. Health officials have reported a second local death from the resurgent virus, now marking the third overall U.S. death connected to measles this year.
The Texas Department of Health and Human Services reported the second death late Saturday night, though it actually occurred Thursday. The person (since identified as eight-year-old Daisy Hildebrand) died from “measles pulmonary failure,” according to doctors at University Medical Center Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, Texas. On Sunday, RFK Jr. attended Hildebrand’s funeral, and he has continued to both tout the benefits of vaccination as well as unsupported medical treatments for measles.
As of early April, 481 measles cases have been documented in Texas, dating back to mid-January, while 56 people have been hospitalized. Much like the first fatal case reported in Texas last month, Hildebrand was unvaccinated and had no pre-existing health conditions. New Mexico officials reported the death of an adult with measles last month as well, though it’s not yet confirmed whether the viral disease was to blame. These are the first documented measles deaths in the U.S. since 2015.
Overall, more than 600 cases of measles have been reported in the U.S. Outbreaks in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and possibly Kansas are connected to each other, and have largely occurred among unvaccinated Mennonite communities in rural regions. There have also been isolated, travel-related cases in over a dozen other states. This case toll in 2025 has already surpassed last year’s, and there is a chance it will top 2019, the previous high-water mark seen since the virus was locally eliminated in the U.S. in 2000. There were 1,274 cases in 2019, as the U.S. teetered on the brink of losing its measles-free status.
During his visit to Texas, RFK Jr.—a regularly debunked vaccine skeptic—offered his strongest endorsement of vaccination yet. He stated in a social media post Sunday that “the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR [the combination measles, mumps, and rubella] vaccine.” At the same time, he continued to promote medically unsound treatments for the viral disease. In a separate post, he stated that he met with two doctors, Richard Bartlett and Ben Edwards, and claimed that they had “treated and healed” some 300 Mennonite children using a combination of aerosolized budesonide (a steroid) and clarithromycin (an antibiotic).
Doctors have occasionally turned to steroids for serious and relevant measles complications, such as brain swelling, but there isn’t strong-enough evidence supporting its standard use. A 2023 study, for instance, failed to find that steroids were associated with better outcomes during a 2017 measles outbreak in Italy (thankfully, they weren’t associated with worse outcomes). Antibiotics can be used to treat secondary bacterial infections that could emerge from measles, but they can’t directly treat viral infections. These medications aren’t risk-free either: steroids are known to weaken people’s immune systems, for instance.
Previously, RFK Jr. has claimed that cod liver oil—rich in vitamin A—can be an effective measles treatment as well. But there’s no rationale for its use in the U.S., since very few Americans suffer from vitamin A deficiency. And some children given vitamin A for their measles have already developed vitamin A toxicity as a result, according to doctors in the region.
While Kennedy may finally have found a vaccine that he can support, his other medical advice has and could very well endanger more children suffering from measles.
