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The number of measles cases recorded so far this year is already three times higher than the total for 2023. According to the CDC, 188 measles cases have been reported. Experts attribute this trend to declining vaccination rates in the U.S. and an increase in measles cases around the world.
The number of measles cases recorded this year is more than three times higher than the total for all of last year, with five months still to go.
According to data released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 188 cases have been reported in 26 states and Washington, D.C. No deaths have been reported, but 93 people have been hospitalized, most of them children under the age of 5.
The United States has seen 13 measles outbreaks this year, the largest of which occurred at a migrant shelter in Chicago in March and led to more than 60 cases.
Measles cases have been reported this month in Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon and Vermont. The Massachusetts case is the state’s first since the start of 2020.
Last year, there were just four measles outbreaks in the United States, with a total of 58 cases.
This year’s number of cases is the highest since 2019, when the U.S. nearly lost its measles-elimination status. Most of the more than 1,200 cases that year were linked to an outbreak in New York’s Orthodox Jewish community.
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“It’s absolutely possible that this year could be even worse than 2019,” said Dr. David Hamer, a professor of global health medicine at the Boston University School of Public Health, but CDC modeling suggests that’s highly unlikely.
Experts believe this year’s increase is due primarily to two factors: declining vaccination rates in the U.S. and an increase in measles cases worldwide.
About 85% of people who have contracted measles this year were unvaccinated or had unknown vaccination status, according to the CDC, and many of the cases are linked to international travel, meaning the disease was brought to the U.S. by travelers who were infected in another country.
“We live in an international community where vaccination rates around the world affect what diseases are transmitted in the U.S.,” said Dr. Erica Prochaska, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, “but the main issue is that in the U.S., our population is not meeting the vaccination benchmark.”
A person infected with measles can spread the disease to up to 90% of those around them if they are not immune, which is why public health officials recommend that communities have at least 95% vaccination coverage to prevent persistent infection.
As of the 2022-23 school year, 93% of U.S. kindergarten students have received two doses of the measles, rubella, and mumps (MMR) vaccine, down from 95% in 2019-20. Twelve states and Washington, DC, have rates below 90%.
“What’s surprising to me is that the spread hasn’t been more widespread,” said Dr. Gregory Poland, founder and director of the Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group.
Recommendation
He added that some immunocompromised people are not eligible for the MMR vaccine, “so the rest of us need to get both doses.”
The United States virtually eliminated measles in 2000, meaning that measles is not always present, but outbreaks occur occasionally in other countries. Before the first measles vaccine became available in 1963, about 3 to 4 million people were infected and 400 to 500 people died from measles each year in the United States.
“It’s just faded from people’s minds as an important issue,” Hamer said.
The spread of misinformation during the pandemic has fueled vaccine hesitancy and contributed to the problem, he added.
Globally, measles vaccination rates fell to their lowest level since 2008 during the pandemic.
Hammer said lockdowns have disrupted vaccination services in many low- and middle-income countries, while ongoing civil wars in countries such as Ethiopia and Yemen, which have a disproportionate number of measles cases globally, could be hindering vaccination efforts.
“The end result is that many countries that were on the border of adequate coverage have scaled back their coverage of routine childhood vaccinations, including against measles,” Hamer said.
According to a joint report from the CDC and the World Health Organization, from 2021 to 2022, measles cases increased by 18% worldwide and measles deaths increased by 43%. During this period, the number of countries experiencing large or significant outbreaks increased from 22 to 37.
Common symptoms of measles include high fever, cough, conjunctivitis (pink eye), runny nose, white patches inside the mouth, and a rash that spreads from head to toe. About 1 to 3 out of 1,000 children who become infected with measles die from complications such as pneumonia and brain swelling.
