MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — A measles outbreak in Mexico has left four people dead this year, including three unvaccinated children, authorities said.

Most of the country’s more than 1,000 confirmed cases of the highly contagious disease in 2025 have been in areas near the US border.

Officials in the worst-hit northern state of Chihuahua said that they had met local Mennonite leaders to encourage vaccination.

Two children aged 11 months and seven years old from the vaccine-skeptical Christian community died from complications linked to the disease this month.

One of them suffered from leukemia and the other had a kidney condition, according to the Chihuahua health department.

“In the case of the 11-month-old child, the mother was also unvaccinated, so she could not transmit immunity to the infant,” it said in a statement.

A 31-year-old unvaccinated man died in the same state in April, while a one-year-old girl lost her life in neighboring Sonora.

“She suffered from severe malnutrition and had not been vaccinated,” the local health department said.

The United States is also battling a measles outbreak, particularly in southern border states, with more than 1,000 confirmed cases and several deaths.

Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus spread through droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes or simply breathes.

Known for its characteristic rash, it poses a serious risk to unvaccinated individuals, including infants under 12 months who are not ordinarily eligible for vaccination, and those with weakened immune systems.