TRACKING EMERGING VIRUSES – July 31, 2025 – MEASLES
“For the third week in a row, Texas has not confirmed any new measles cases linked to the West Texas outbreak. The total number of known outbreak infections in Texas stands at 762. Chris Van Deusen, Director of Media Relations at Texas Department of State Health Services, is cautiously optimistic.
“It appears the height of the measles outbreak is behind us, but we don’t want to let our guard down,” Van Deusen said. “If a person who isn’t immune travels somewhere measles is spreading, gets infected, and brings it back to a community with lower immunization rates, we could see another outbreak.”” (1)
“Measles cases in the United States are continuing to rise after breaking a decades-long record just two weeks ago.
There are now 1,319 confirmed measles cases across 39 states, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated Wednesday. This is the highest nationwide measles figure seen since 1992.
National cases are more than 4.5 times higher than the entirety of last year, which had an estimated 285 cases reported.” (7)
“Measles cases in Canada have far surpassed those in the United States as public health experts in Alberta, a western province that has become a hot spot for the outbreak, have urged the provincial leader to declare a public health emergency to stave off infections.
Canada’s public health agency has recorded about 4,200 measles cases this year, more than three times as many as the 1,300 cases recorded in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The C.D.C. has also ranked Canada among the top 10 countries with the highest number of measles cases. It is the only Western nation on the list.
Alberta, which has low measles vaccine rates, has recorded about 1,600 cases. The largely conservative province has a deep and vocal level of skepticism about the public health system and vaccines, with many people mirroring some of the arguments made in the United States by the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.” (2)
“Knowing how many people are vaccinated against an existing or re-emerging threat is a key factor guiding public health decisions, but such information is often sparse or non-existent in many regions, according to researchers at Penn State.
Now, in collaboration with a team at the World Health Organization, the researchers have developed a new method to estimate and predict regional measles vaccination coverage levels even when accurate or timely survey data on vaccination is not available. The method uses data that is routinely collected when potential measles cases present at clinics to model vaccination coverage and can be used to guide public health interventions to slow or prevent measles outbreaks.
A paper describing the research appeared recently in the journal Vaccine.” (4)
“Kansas’ 2023-24 data — the most recent available — show kindergarteners at Bonner Springs schools had the best measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) immunization rate in Johnson or Wyandotte counties, a rate of nearly 98%. “
That’s partially why neighboring Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools had a kindergarten MMR vaccination rate of about 67% percent in 2023-24, though less than 2% of students had medical or religious exemptions. KCKPS says its overall vaccination rate is now 80% and rising.
KCKPS stopped excluding unvaccinated students when they were learning remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, Director of Health Services Lajasmia Bates said. The district plans to resume enforcing the policy for the 2025-26 school year.”
“We do realize that when those compliance rates are low, that we’re at a higher risk,” Bates said. “We wanted to do something about that to make sure that we can get as close (as possible) to having a herd immunity to be able to stop the spread of those communicable diseases, including measles.” (9)
“‘What do measles, pertussis and diphtheria have in common?’
The answer is that these diseases are preventable through vaccination – and they are all spreading in Europe.
The latest WHO/Unicef estimates of vaccination coverage reveal an ‘alarming decline’ in uptake in Europe and Central Asia over the past five years. Experts say this has made communities vulnerable to a resurgence of preventable diseases.
While most parents protect their children against these diseases, many infants are still missing out on vaccines against measles, pertussis (whooping cough), polio and hepatitis B, among others.” (3)
“Blindness, pneumonia, severe diarrhoea and even death – measles virus infections, especially in children, can have devastating consequences.” (5)
But there’s more at stake than just measles itself. Emerging research suggests that the measles vaccination may offer surprising additional health benefits. Children who receive the vaccine have been shown to have a significantly lower risk of infections from diseases unrelated to measles.
One explanation for this broader benefit is the idea of “measles amnesia.” This refers to the ability of the measles virus to erase parts of the body’s immune memory.
Our immune system contains various cells that protect us from infections. Some produce antibodies that neutralise viruses, while others detect and destroy infected cells. Immune memory allows the body to “remember” past infections and mount faster responses in the future.
However, measles infection may reduce the number and diversity of these memory cells – leaving children vulnerable to a wide range of diseases they had previously developed immunity to. In other words, the virus doesn’t just make children ill in the short term, it may also undo years of immune protection.” (6)
“As measles is spread by coughing, sneezing, singing etc, should masks be worn? Two-thirds of cases of measles this year have been in children aged 10 years or younger. Should we be asking the children in the nursery to wear PPE as well? What will be the effect on young children of being cared for by people in aprons and gloves, and possibly masks – surely not good for their emotional development?
More importantly, as Frances describes, we refer to the “personal choice” of parents not to have their child vaccinated with the safe and effective MMR vaccine. This “personal choice” should not extend to putting other children at risk. In a nursery there will be unimmunised children – not through a parent’s decision, but because the child is not eligible. Some of the children will be too young to be vaccinated with MMR and occasionally there will be a child whose immune system does not work properly.
If either of these groups of children develops measles, they are more likely to have serious complications, including brain damage and death. As they cannot be vaccinated, the only way to protect them is to ensure that their contacts are immunised.
With freedom comes responsibilities. Perhaps when measles is around, children who are not immunised should be excluded from nursery. What all too often happens is that the child who cannot be immunised is excluded. Is that right?” (8)
“This spring, Project ECHO at the University of New Mexico hosted an online video series about measles aimed at health care professionals and organizations that serve Native American communities. The presenters outlined the basics of measles diagnosis and treatment, discussed culturally relevant communication strategies, and shared how tribes are responding to the outbreak.
Participants also strategized about ways to improve vaccination rates, said Harry Brown, a physician and an epidemiologist for the United South and Eastern Tribes, a nonprofit that works with 33 tribes in the Atlantic Coast and Southeast regions.” (5)
curated by Jonathan M. Metsch, Dr.P.H.
Clinical Professor of Environmental Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
1.Measles update: ‘The height of the measles outbreak is behind us,’ says the Texas health department, By Bonnie Petrie, https://www.tpr.org/bioscience-medicine/2025-07-29/measles-update-the-height-of-the-measles-outbreak-is-behind-us-according-to-the-texas-health-department
2.Canada’s Measles Outbreak Exceeds Cases in the U.S., By Vjosa Isai, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/world/canada/canada-alberta-measles-outbreak.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
3.Vaccination falls, diseases return, https://www.vaccinestoday.eu/stories/vaccination-falls-diseases-return/
4.Predicting measles vaccination coverage for targeted public health action, by D. Bhatia https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250728/Predicting-measles-vaccination-coverage-for-targeted-public-health-action.aspx
5.Tribal health officials work to fill vaccination gaps as measles outbreak spreads, Arielle Zionts, https://www.uniondemocrat.com/lifestyle/article_2e60d850-d168-4093-9e7f-59deddebaea7.html
6.Measles Can Erase Your Immune System’s Memory, Expert Says, By Antony Black, https://www.sciencealert.com/measles-can-erase-your-immune-systems-memory-expert-says
7.Measles cases in US over 4.5 times higher than all of last year, By Youri Benadjaoud, https://abcnews.go.com/Health/measles-cases-us-45-times-higher-year/story?id=124036433
8. The fight to keep measles out of nurseries raises issues of freedom and responsibility, by Betsy Reed, https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jul/25/the-fight-to-keep-measles-out-of-nurseries-raises-issues-of-freedom-and-responsibility
9.‘It would be a nightmare’: Kansas schools brace for a potential measles outbreak, by Maria Benevento, https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2025/07/29/it-would-be-a-nightmare-kansas-schools-brace-for-a-potential-measles-outbreak/