Second child dies of measles as Texas outbreak worsens
'My intention was to come down here quietly to console the families and to be with the community in their moment of grief,' Kennedy said in a post on X Sunday.
A funeral for the latest victim was scheduled for Sunday afternoon, according to an obituary.
HHS is partnering with Texas health officials to better combat the measles outbreak in the state and has deployed teams from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the area, Kennedy added.
As of Friday, Texas has reported 481 outbreak-associated cases, according to the Texas Department of Health.
'We are deeply saddened to report that a school-aged child who was recently diagnosed with measles has passed away. The child was receiving treatment for complications of measles while hospitalized,' Aaron Davis, vice president of UMC Health System in Lubbock, Texas, told CNN in a statement.'It is important to note that the child was not vaccinated against measles and had no known underlying health conditions,' he continued.The measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles, Kennedy said Sunday.A Trump administration official told The New York Times the child's cause of death is 'still being looked at.'CNN did not immediately hear back from inquiries sent to the Texas Department of Health and HHS.Texas' first measles death linked to the ongoing outbreak was in an unvaccinated school-aged child in February. A death in New Mexico remains under investigation.The outbreak – now spanning Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and possibly Kansas – reached at least 569 cases Friday, according to data obtained from state health departments.In Texas, nearly all outbreak-related cases were in unvaccinated people, and 70% were among children and teens, health department data shows. Many of those cases have broken out in West Texas, with Gaines County accounting for nearly 66% of cases.In Lubbock County, which accounts for nearly 7% of the confirmed cases in Texas, UMC Health has started offering drive-up measles screenings at both of its 24/7 urgent care centers.Meanwhile, New Mexico has reported 54 cases, and Oklahoma reported 10 cases – eight confirmed and two probable – as of Friday. Cases in Kansas, which the state health department said may be linked to the outbreak, reached 24 as of Wednesday.Many of those cases are among unvaccinated people, and experts say the numbers are most likely a severe undercount because many cases go unreported.With most reported cases among minors, experts worry about increasing hospitalizations, especially in younger children who are at higher risk of complications.'The more children who get the disease means that there's an increased chance that there will be more children getting sicker with complications from measles,' said Dr. Christina Johns, a pediatric emergency physician at PM Pediatrics in Annapolis, Maryland.US Sen. Bill Cassidy, who is a physician, called on top health officials Sunday to address the measles outbreak.'Everyone should be vaccinated! There is no treatment for measles. No benefit to getting measles. Top health officials should say so unequivocally b/4 another child dies,' Cassidy wrote on X.Kennedy has downplayed the severity of the outbreak and faced criticism of the agency's response.Kennedy's response to the outbreak has been 'abysmal,' said Dr. Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Philadelphia Children's Hospital.Offit highlighted the secretary's history of decrying vaccines and minimizing the risk of measles.'The disease has returned because a critical percentage of parents have chosen not to vaccinate their children, in large part because of misinformation provided by people like RFK Jr,' he said. — CNN
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Saudi Gazette
3 hours ago
- Saudi Gazette
Russia's summer offensive is turning into an escalating crisis for Ukraine
POKROVSK, eastern Ukraine — The silent, moonless black is broken only by the whirr above of a Russian drone. Dmytro is yet to receive any patients at his tiny two-bed field hospital near Pokrovsk, and that is not a good outcome any more. Dawn begins to break – the twilight in which evacuation of the wounded from the front lines is safest – but still none arrive, and the enemy drones swirl incessantly above. 'We have a very difficult situation with evacuation,' said Dmytro. 'Many of the injured have to wait days. For Russian drone pilots, it is an honor for them when they kill medics and the injured.' This night, the frontline wounded do not arrive. The saturation of Moscow's drone in the skies above – already palpable at this stabilization point 12 kilometers (7 miles) from the Russians – has likely made it impossible for even armored vehicles to safely extract the injured. Up the road, the fight rages for the key town of Pokrovsk – in the Kremlin's crosshairs for months, but now at risk of encirclement. Across eastern Ukraine, Russia's tiny gains are adding up. It is capitalizing on a series of small advances and throwing significant resources into an emerging summer offensive, one that risks reshaping control over the front lines. Over four days reporting in the villages behind Kostiantynivka and Pokrovsk – two of the most embattled Ukrainian towns in Donetsk region – CNN witnessed the swift change in control of territory. Russian drones were able to penetrate deep into areas Kyiv's forces once relied upon as oases of calm, and troops struggled to find the personnel and resources to halt a persistent enemy advance. The Russian momentum comes as US President Donald Trump radically shortened his deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to make peace from 50 to up to 12 days. Trump expressed said he was 'very disappointed' in Putin and suggested the Kremlin head had already decided not to entertain the ceasefire the US and its European allies have demanded for months. The reduced timeframe was welcomed by Kyiv and may provide a greater sense of urgency in Western capitals over diplomatic or military support for Ukraine. But it seems unlikely to alter Moscow's course, where its superior manpower, tolerance for casualties, and vast military production line is beginning to reap dividends. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week Russian forces were 'not advancing,' but acknowledged the circumstances across the frontline were 'tough.' The sense of an evolving crisis was most acute around the town of Pokrovsk, unsuccessfully assaulted by Moscow for months at great cost in Russian life. One Ukrainian commander serving near the town described 'a very bad scenario,' in which troops in the adjoining town to Pokrovsk, Myrnohrad, risked 'being surrounded.' The officer added Russians had already moved into the nearby village of Rodynske, and were on the edges of Biletske, endangering the supply line for Ukrainian troops inside Pokrovsk – assessments confirmed by a Ukrainian police officer and another Ukrainian soldier to CNN Tuesday. The commander, who like many officials spoke on condition of anonymity discussing a sensitive topic, said they feared a siege was likely, similar to Avdiivka and Vuhledar last year, where 'we held out to the last and lost both cities and people as a result.' Viktor Tregubov, a spokesman for the Khortytsia group of forces active in the area, told state television on Tuesday there 'is constant pressure all along the entire eastern front. Right now, it's absolutely everywhere.' He said Russian troops assaulted mostly on foot. 'If someone is killed, others immediately follow.' While Moscow's forces have made only incremental gains over recent months – seizing small settlements to little strategic avail – the pace of their advance has accelerated, according to open-source mapping by DeepState. More perilously for Kyiv, recent progress has been strategically advantageous, making the encirclement of Pokrovsk, Kostiantynivka, and Kupiansk to the north, a palpable threat in the weeks ahead. The fall of these three towns would create three separate crises for Kyiv. Firstly, they are the urban areas from which Ukraine defends the remainders of the Donetsk region it controls, without which its troops lack hubs for shelter and resupply. Secondly, their loss to Moscow would free up a significant number of Russian forces to push hard onto Kramatorsk and Sloviansk – the largest Donetsk towns still under Ukrainian control. Thirdly, this loss would leave Kyiv's forces exposed, defending the mostly open agricultural land – with few towns in the way – between the Donetsk region and its key city of Dnipro. The pace of Moscow's advance – or at least the growing penetration of their attack drones into civilian areas – was witnessed by CNN in the eastern town of Dobropilia on Tuesday. The town came under sustained attack by Russian drones two weeks ago, hitting multiple civilian targets. Locals, fearfully awaiting police evacuation in the town, looked anxiously up to the sky, and said the threat from drones had quickly grown in the last few days. A police official expressed surprise at the swift unravelling of Ukrainian control, and told CNN the civilian bus service to the city abruptly ended Monday, because of the security situation, leaving locals able to leave in armored police vans, or their own vehicles. On Saturday, local officials advised parents to evacuate their children themselves. But by Tuesday, they were ferrying out children and residents by the dozen. One elderly resident of the village of Biletske, evacuated on Tuesday, said his house had been set on fire by a drone attack on Monday, and then again on Tuesday. Kyiv also faces an acute challenge in the town of Kostiantynivka, where its forces saw swift Russian advances in the past week to the south east and south west. Russian FPV attack drones can easily target vehicles inside the town, and killed the driver of a civilian van on Sunday, despite the explosive on the device not detonating. Vasyl, a commander with the 93rd Mechanized brigade, said he had not been sent new personnel for eight months, and was forced to resupply frontline positions of only two men with drones, airlifting in food, water and ammunition. 'No one wants to fight', he said. 'The old personnel are left, they are tired and want to be replaced, but no one is replacing them.' He blamed Ukrainian officers for giving inaccurate reports of the front line to their superiors. 'A lot of things are not communicated and are hidden,' he said. 'We don't communicate a lot of things to our state. Our state doesn't communicate a lot of things to the people.' Further north, near Kupiansk, about 60 miles east of Ukraine's second city Kharkiv, Russian troops have raced over the town's north, threatening a key supply road for Ukrainian forces to its West, taking the village of Radkivka. A Ukrainian source in the city described the situation as 'very fast moving,' and Russian analysts have said their forces are in the town's outskirts. The accumulative effect of a Ukrainian manpower crisis, the turbulence of Kyiv's relationship with the Trump White House, and uncertain supplies of weaponry, are a perfect storm that has broken in the face of the vigor and persistence of a Russian summer offensive, whose progress is no longer incremental but is reshaping the conflict and bringing Putin closer to some of his goals fast. — CNN
Saudi Gazette
21-07-2025
- Saudi Gazette
Man dies after being pulled into an MRI by a metal chain he wore, police say
WASHINGTON — A man died last week after being pulled into an MRI machine by a 'large metallic chain' police said he was wearing around his neck – highlighting the importance of checking for any metallic objects before going near the powerful magnets used in the medical imaging machines. The 61-year-old died Thursday, a day after Nassau County police said he was pulled into the MRI machine at Nassau Open MRI in Westbury, New York, on Long Island. The victim was wearing 'a large metallic chain around his neck causing him to be drawn into the machine,' prompting an unspecified 'medical episode,' police said in a news release. The man's entry to the room 'while the scan was in progress' was not authorized, police said. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition before he was declared dead the following day. The investigation is ongoing, police said. Police have not identified the victim, but CNN affiliate News 12 Long Island reported his name was Keith McAllister, according to his wife, Adrienne Jones-McAllister. She told the station she was the one undergoing the MRI. 'He went limp in my arms,' Jones-McAllister said through tears. A person who answered the phone at Nassau Open MRI on Sunday said it had no comment. Used often for disease detection and diagnosis, MRI stands for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, according to the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. The technology relies in part on powerful magnets to stimulate protons within a patient, who is placed inside the machine, allowing doctors to capture detailed images of the patient's anatomy. That strong magnetic field, however, emanates beyond the MRI machine, posing a threat to those who might be wearing metallic objects or have them implanted. The magnets exert 'very powerful forces on objects of iron, some steels, and other magnetizable objects,' the scientific institute notes, with enough strength 'to fling a wheelchair across the room.' Jones-McAllister was getting an MRI on her knee, she told News 12, and needed help getting up afterwards. She said she asked the MRI technician to retrieve her husband for assistance. 'I yelled out Keith's name, 'Keith, Keith, come help me up,'' Jones-McAllister said. According to News 12, Jones-McAllister said her husband was wearing around his neck a 20-pound chain with a large lock he used for weight training. 'At that instant, the machine switched him around, pulled him in, and he hit the MRI,' Jones-McAllister said. She said she and the technician tried to pry her husband away from the machine. 'I'm saying, 'Could you turn off the machine? Call 911. Do something. Turn this damn thing off!'' Because of the risks posed by an MRI machine's magnetic field, patients are urged to notify their doctors about any medical implants prior to an MRI, in case they contain any metallic materials. Pacemakers, insulin pumps and cochlear implants are all examples of implants that the NIBIB says should under no circumstances enter an MRI machine. But items outside the machine pose risks as well, as last week's tragedy in Westbury demonstrated. Anything magnetic – from something as small as keys, to something as large (or larger) than an oxygen tank – can become a projectile, threatening the safety of anyone nearby. 'Metal in a room that has the magnet will fly across the room to the scanner, to this large magnet, and will really hit anything in its way,' Dr. Rebecca Smith-Bindman, a radiologist, told CNN in 2011. 'So within radiology training, one learns very early that that's not OK, that you can't have external metal in the room, and you can't have metal in the patient,' she said. 'That could lead to a problem.' These accidents have happened in the past: In 2001, a 6-year-old boy was killed during an MRI at a hospital in Valhalla, New York, after a metal oxygen tank flew across the room when the machine's electromagnet turned on. The magnetized tank struck the child, who died of blunt force trauma injuries. These events are rare, according to the US Food and Drug Administration. Still, '(c)areful screening of people and objects entering the MR environment is critical to ensure nothing enters the magnet area that may become a projectile,' the agency says. — CNN
Al Arabiya
21-07-2025
- Al Arabiya
UK battles anti-vax information after child dies from measles
A child's death from measles has sparked urgent calls from British public health officials to get children vaccinated, as the UK faces an onslaught of misinformation on social media, much of it from the United States. Measles is a highly infectious disease that can cause serious complications. It is preventable through double MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) jabs in early childhood. Health Secretary Wes Streeting on July 14 confirmed to parliament that a child had died in the UK of measles. No details have been released, but The Sunday Times and Liverpool Echo newspapers reported the child had been severely ill with measles and other serious health problems in Alder Hey hospital in the northwestern city. Anti-vaxxers quickly posted unconfirmed claims about the death on social media. One British influencer, Ellie Grey, who has more than 200,000 followers on Instagram, posted a video denying the child died from measles. 'Measles isn't this deadly disease... it's not dangerous,' she said. Grey criticised Alder Hey for posting a video 'really, really pushing and manipulating parents into getting the MMR vaccine'. Her video was reposted by another British influencer, Kate Shemirani, a struck-off ex-nurse who posts health conspiracy theories. 'No vaccine has ever been proven safe and no vaccine has ever been proven effective,' Shemirani claimed falsely. Liverpool's public health chief Matthew Ashton attacked those 'spreading misinformation and disinformation about childhood immunizations' in the Echo newspaper, saying 'they need to take a very long, hard look at themselves.' 'For those of you that don't know, measles is a really nasty virus,' he said in a video, adding that the jab is a way of 'protecting yourself and your loved ones'. Alder Hey said it has treated 17 children with measles since June. It posted a video in which a pediatric infectious diseases consultant, Andrew McArdle, addresses measles 'myths', including that the MMR jab causes autism. This false claim comes from a debunked 1998 study by a British doctor, Andrew Wakefield, who was later struck off. But it sparked an international slump in vaccinations. 'Lingering questions' Benjamin Kasstan-Dabush, a medical anthropologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told AFP there are still 'lingering questions around the Wakefield era'. He talked to parents who had delayed vaccinating their children, finding reasons included life events and difficulty getting health appointments, but also misinformation. 'We're obviously talking about a different generation of parents, who might be engaging with that Wakefield legacy through social media, through the internet, and of course through Kennedy,' he said. US President Donald Trump appointed Robert F. Kennedy Jr as health secretary despite his promotion of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories. Kennedy fired all 17 experts on a key vaccine advisory panel and appointed a scientist who warned against COVID-19 jabs. In the United States, 'misinformation is being produced in the highest echelons of the Trump administration', which 'circulates across the internet', Kasstan-Dabush said. In a sign of how narratives spread, a Telegram group airing conspiracies called Liverpool TPR, which has around 2,000 members, regularly posts links to anti-vaccine group Children's Health Defense once chaired by Kennedy. In the past few weeks the UK Health Security Agency has amplified its social media coverage on vaccinations, a spokesman said. In a video in response to the reported death, Vanessa Saliba, a consultant epidemiologist, explained the MMR jab protects others, including those 'receiving treatment like chemotherapy that can weaken or wipe out their immunity'. Take-up of the MMR jab needs to be 95 percent for herd immunity, according to the World Health Organisation. The UK has never hit this target. In Liverpool, uptake for both doses is only around 74 percent and below 50 percent in some areas, according to Ashton, while the UK rate is 84 percent. After Wakefield's autism claims, confirmed measles cases topped 2,000 in England and Wales in 2012 before dropping. But last year, cases soared again. The same trend is happening in other countries. Europe last year reported the highest number of cases in over 25 years; the United States has recorded its worst measles epidemic in over 30 years. Canada, which officially eradicated measles in 1998, has registered more than 3,500 cases this year. An Ontario infectious diseases doctor, Alon Vaisman, told AFP: 'You're fighting against the wall of disinformation and lies.'
