Every morning, Dr. Wendell Parkey makes his entrance into his clinic in Seminole, Texas, a quaint town located on the rural western fringes of the state, announcing his arrival with an energetic anthem blasting through the clinic’s speakers. As the music surges, he raises his arm and strikes a dynamic pose in his cowboy boots, asking, “Are you all set to combat disease?”

However, this call to action has recently taken on a somber tone. Dr. Parkey’s workplace, the Seminole Memorial Hospital, is currently embroiled in the largest measles outbreak in the United States since 2019. Over the past month, more than 140 individuals in Texas, predominantly from the nearby Gaines County, have been diagnosed with the illness, leading to 20 hospitalizations. Additionally, nine cases have been reported in a neighboring county in New Mexico.

On Wednesday, local health authorities disclosed the tragic news of a child’s death—the first measles-related fatality in the United States in ten years. Unfortunately, this may not be the last, as significant portions of the area’s Mennonite community, a secluded Christian group that established roots in the region during the 1970s, remain unvaccinated and at high risk for the virus.

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