Measles is raging worldwide: are you at risk? : Shared by John Gilmartin

Here is another for XUNICEF.   This a Nature journal review of recent US outbreaks of measles.  From the chart it's easy to see this outbreak is just getting underway, and from its slope its easy to say this one will be worse than the last one a few years ago.

What's not said or even approached in this piece is the effect of measles on malnourished under five-year-olds.  A well nourished US or European under five year child is very unlikely to die from the disease.  A malnourished child is 400 (four hundred) times more likely to die from measles.  An immuno-compromised child is also much more likely to die from an infection.  

Dr Steve Joseph was the lead health program officer in program division when I joined in 1985.  The famine in Ethiopia was raging during this period and Steve offered a brown bag lunch for any and all interested in measles during what was early months for me.  He began with a photo of a child victim of a severe measles infection.  

That's where I heard the above stats on the effect of measles on a malnourished child.  This was reinforced a few months later when I found myself in some of the feeding camps in the central highlands of Ethiopia.  As the camps became better organized for accepting the mothers and their children arriving for help at the gates of these camps, one of the first interventions provided to these kids was a measles vaccine shot.  The cloths they arrive in were burned, and new cloths provided, their heads were shaved and de-licing treatment provided, and of course the special mix of hot cereal with butter and vitamins were provided.  

Measles is raging worldwide: are you at risk?

Mariana Lenharo, Nature, 6 February 2026

Click here for the article

Summary:

Measles is surging globally with the United States recording more than 2,000 cases in 2025, the highest in three decades. The UK, Spain, Austria and three other nations lost their official "measles free" status in January, while Canada lost this status in November and the US is projected to follow in April. 

The measles vaccine is highly effective - 93% protection after one dose and 97% after two doses, with protection lasting a lifetime for most people. 

However, an analysis found that 12% of the 4,056 measles cases confirmed in the United States between 2001 and 2022 were breakthrough infections in vaccinated people. In South Carolina's outbreak that began in October, 876 people were infected, with only 38 having been vaccinated. 

The good news is that breakthrough cases in vaccinated people tend to have mild symptoms. In May, an unvaccinated person with measles boarded an 11-hour international flight to Denver while actively ill, leading to nine additional cases among Colorado residents exposed to the traveler.

Quotes:

"Up to 90% of people who are not immune will get measles if they encounter an infected person."

Nathan Lo, infectious-disease physician-scientist at Stanford University: "You may see a very small outbreak or sporadic cases, but you won't see sustained transmission."

On breakthrough cases in vaccinated people: "It's pretty rare to see the typical complications you might expect."

Rachel Herlihy, epidemiologist at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, on the Denver flight case: "We believe that this individual was very actively ill with measles while they were travelling."