Americans are growing more concerned about the preventable virus as cases continue to rise in rural West Texas.

Measles can cause seizures, blindness and death, and children under the age of 5 are particularly vulnerable to complications.

The virus was declared eliminated from the United States in 2000. A measles outbreak infecting patients in Texas and New Mexico has turned deadly. An unvaccinated school-aged child died of the virus,

The number of confirmed measles cases in western Texas grew to 146, and it is possibly spreading to the central part of the state and neighboring New Mexico, health officials said Friday.

Measles was considered to be eliminted in the U.S. in 2000, thanks to vaccine developments. But vaccination rates have dropped since the covid pandemic began.

Texas health officials say the number of people with measles has increased to 146 in rural West Texas outbreak that led this week to the death of a school-aged child who was not vaccinated