A child died from the measles after being hospitalized in Lubbock, the first death amid an outbreak that began last month in the South Plains region, health officials said. The Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed the school-aged child's death on Wednesday but did not offer any additional details about the child's age or identity.

At least 124 cases of measles have been identified in Texas since late January, mostly among children and teenagers who are either unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown, officials say.

A child in West Texas has died of measles, state health officials said today, the first reported U.S. 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.