THE OUTBREAK
A measles outbreak in Texas and New Mexico that began in late January has expanded to over 200 cases, and the true number is likely unknown. The vaccination status of many people in affected communities is also unknown, and many residents are said to be foregoing testing.
Two people have died in this outbreak so far; one unvaccinated adult in New Mexico and an unvaccinated child in Texas.
Two new measles cases in Oklahoma that are connected to this outbreak were reported on March 11, 2025.
A measles case that is unrelated to that outbreak has also been identified in a Maryland resident who recently went on an international trip. Officials are working to trace contacts of this case who may have been exposed, and that includes anyone who visited the terminal A and baggage claim of Washington Dulles International Airport on March 5th between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m., or who visited Johns Hopkins Howard County Medical Center Pediatric Emergency Department on March 7th between 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Another case unrelated to either of these outbreaks has also been identified in New York State's Suffolk County. In this case, anyone "who visited the pediatric emergency department at Cohen Children's Medical Center in Queens on March 3 and 4, or visited an inpatient child on the Medicine 3 unit from March 3 to March 6," should contact their doctor or pediatrician.
There have been more than 200 measles cases in nine US states this year, and thirty people have been hospitalized for their infections. About 95% of these cases have occurred in people who were unvaccinated, or whose vaccination status was unknown, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of these documented cases, only 5% were in vaccinated individuals.
There were 285 cases of measles in the US in all of 2024.
THE VIRUS
Measles is caused by a virus that can survive in the air for as much as 2 hours. It's estimated that nine of every ten unvaccinated people who are exposed to an infected person will get sick. It is one of the most, if not the most infectious disease known.
Before there was a measles vaccine, the infection killed 400 to 500 people every year in the United States, and caused the hospitalization of about 48,000 people annually.
When most people in a community, or about 95% of residents have been vaccinated, the disease can be controlled through herd immunity. But in Gaines County, Texas, for example, where many recent cases have happened, the vaccination rate is about 82%, according to state health records. Health officials have vaccinated over 200 people there since this outbreak began.
THE VACCINE
The measles vaccine is safe and prevents infection completely with two doses 97% of the time. It was introduced in 1963, and measles was almost totally eliminated in the US by 2000. Some cases have arisen, which usually happen when an unvaccinated person travels and is exposed.
Two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine were recommended starting in 1989, and anyone vaccinated before that should check to see if they need another dose, suggested Dr. Taison Bell, acting chair of medicine at the University of Virginia.
"This is a disease that should not be a thing anymore in this country," Bell added. "We have a vaccine that prevents it and the ability to eradicate it."
A major concern is that, "outbreaks are happening in the context of increased rates of vaccine hesitancy and decreased rates of immunity," noted Dr. Patrick Jackson, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Virginia School of Medicine who specializes in infectious diseases.
The National Institutes of Health under the Trump administration has also just pulled funding for grants that were aiming to study vaccine hesitancy.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has recently claimed that vitamin A can help prevent measles, but that is not true. A study determined that vitamin A treatment only helps children under the age of 2 who have already been hospitalized from a severe measles infection.
Sources: CDC, NPR, University of Virginia
