A decline in vaccination among U.S. children in recent years, fueled by unscientific claims that the shots are unsafe, has triggered larger outbreaks.
Measles Outbreaks
There have been more U.S. measles cases in the first months of 2025 than in all of 2024. In addition to the outbreak in West Texas and New Mexico, the U.S. has reported 607 cases as of April 3, including 124 in the previous week.
In Europe, 127,350 cases were reported in 2024, double the number in 2023 and the highest in 25 years, according to the World Health Organization and UNICEF, the United Nations children’s organization.
In the decade before a vaccine became available in 1963, there were 3 to 4 million U.S. measles cases each year – mostly in children – with 48,000 hospitalizations and 400 to 500 deaths.Measles Symptoms, Vaccine
Complications from measles include ear infections, hearing loss, pneumonia, croup, diarrhea, blindness and swelling of the brain. Even in healthy children, measles can cause serious illness and death. In unvaccinated pregnant women, measles may cause premature birth or a low-birthweight baby.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 1 in 5 unvaccinated people in the U.S. who get measles will need hospitalization.
At least 95% of kindergarten-age children need to have received the measles vaccine to achieve so-called herd immunity that can prevent outbreaks.
That goal has become elusive in recent years as public figures have promoted theories – contrary to scientific evidence – that childhood vaccines are a cause of autism and other health risks. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who heads the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has helped sow such doubts for decades.
The idea stems from a long since-debunked study of 12 children led by British researcher Andrew Wakefield in the late 1990s that connected autism to the measles vaccine. No rigorous studies have found links between autism and vaccines or medications, or their components such as thimerosal or formaldehyde.
Vaccination coverage among U.S. kindergartners decreased from 95.2 per cent during the 2019–2020 school year to 92.7 per cent in 2023–2024, according to the CDC.
The Texas county at the center of the current outbreak had an 80 per cent vaccination rate among kindergarten children in 2023-24. Vaccination rates below what is needed to reach herd immunity leave those who cannot receive the vaccine unprotected and vulnerable to the virus, including young infants and individuals with immune disorders.
Measles Disease Treatment
There are no specific drugs for measles. Treatments can only help to ease symptoms and limit complications. The WHO recommends rest, keeping hydrated with fluids, and using fever reducers such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen.
Antibiotics can be used to treat pneumonia and ear and eye infections due to measles. Steroids have been used to treat a rare complication of measles that causes brain swelling, but steroids also weaken the immune system’s defense against the virus, Reuters report.
FAQs
Q1. What are Measles symptoms?
A1. Complications from measles include ear infections, hearing loss, pneumonia, croup, diarrhea, blindness and swelling of the brain. Even in healthy children, measles can cause serious illness and death.
Q2. Is there any medicine for Measles disease?
A2. There are no specific drugs for measles.
