A Texas measles outbreak has doubled in the last week to 124 cases, state health officials said Tuesday, a day after they warned a person infected with the highly contagious disease had traveled from the outbreak zone.

The first person known to have died from measles in the U.S. in a decade was announced by health officials on Wednesday and described as a "school-aged child" who perished in a children's hospital in West Texas,

According to the society, the last US measles death was in 2015. A measles infection can have particularly devastating complications for pregnant women and young children, including pneumonia, neurological impairment, hearing loss and death.