After a pediatric patient in West Texas died of measles complications, hospital officials are urging the community to take the outbreak seriously, and to educate themselves about the virus and vaccination.

LUBBOCK — A person who was hospitalized with measles has died from measles in West Texas, the first death in an outbreak that began late last month. Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center spokesperson Melissa Whitfield confirmed the death Wednesday. It wasn’t clear the age of the patient, who died overnight.

The group is part of a larger, loosely affiliated group of churches with varied beliefs and leadership structures — and with sometimes strained relations with authorities.