The latest US data shows measles cases up to mid-July 2026 totaled more than all the cases in 2025. Experts blame a fall in vaccination and warn people have forgotten measles can be life-threatening.
Johns Hopkins epidemiologist William Moss expects the surge to result in the US losing its measles-elimination status held since 2000. "The significance is that the US has not been able to stop measles virus transmission or outbreaks as it has in the past," Moss told DW.
Measles is the most contagious virus on Earth, spreading far more easily than the common cold. Nine out of 10 non-immune people exposed become infected. The virus spreads through airborne droplets that can remain suspended in the air long after an infected person leaves.
"You just have to be in somebody's airspace within two hours of them being there," said Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Crucially, people can transmit measles before realizing they are infected, about four days before the rash appears.
In the US, about one in five people with measles are hospitalized. One in 20 infected children develops pneumonia, while around one in 1,000 develops encephalitis. Between one and three of every 1,000 infected children die from respiratory or neurological complications.
Offit reported two unvaccinated children—a healthy six-year-old and eight-year-old—died of measles this past year, both from pneumonia. "It's like dying of suffocation. It's a terrible way to die," he said.
Among survivors, measles can suppress the immune system for years and erase protection against other pathogens. Another delayed complication is subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, a rare fatal brain disease that can appear up to 10 years after infection.
Katelyn Jetelina, an epidemiologist, attributed falling vaccination rates to "general amnesia about these diseases," social media falsehoods, and loss of trust in institutions. "There are unvaccinated pockets all around the nation. All it takes is a spark for this disease to spread like wildfire," she warned.
Source: www.dw.com