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

The deadly return measles highlights growing gaps in immunization coverage across the US and globally, raising concerns among health officials.

When Health and Human Services Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedy answered questions during the first cabinet meeting of the new Trump administration, he incorrectly described the number of people who died in a West Texas measles outbreak and the reason people were hospitalized.

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 10.3 million people were infected with measles and 107,500 died. Most were unvaccinated people or children younger than five. Cases were most common in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia where incomes are low and health services insufficient.

WELL, THE MEASLES OUTBREAK IN TEXAS NOW REACHING 124 CASES AND JUST IN ABOUT 15 MINUTES AGO, TEXAS REPORTING ONE DEATH. ALMOST ALL CASES ARE IN PEOPLE WHO ARE UNVACCINATED. NEW MEXICO HAS AT LEAST NINE CASES NOW HERE AT HOME.

“Measles is a highly contagious respiratory illness, which can cause life-threatening illness to anyone who is not protected against the virus. During a measles outbreak, about one in five people who get sick will need hospital care and one in 20 will develop pneumonia,” Texas DSHS said in a news release.

Since 2015, there have been zero measles deaths in the United States. However, that changed this week when an unvaccinated child in West Texas died from the disease.

The cases identified in New Jersey are separate from a serious measles outbreak that has swept through West Texas in the last month, with doctors diagnosing 124 cases in nine counties.