A child has died of measles in Texas, officials said — the first death from the highly contagious disease the United States has seen in a decade. The school-age child was not vaccinated, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Gaines County in West Texas is at the heart of the ongoing measles outbreak. Non-medical vaccine exemption rates there are high.

A growing measles outbreak in Texas, where one unvaccinated child died and nearly 20 others have been hospitalized with serious complications, marks the first major test for U.S. Health Secretary Robert F.