TRACKING EMERGING VIRUSES –August 24, 2025 – MEASLES
“The epidemic today has not so far approached that of 1990 and 1991. Before that epidemic was over, there were about 55,000 cases nationwide and 132 suspected deaths. It was the worst outbreak since a vaccine was licensed 1963, breaking all records for illnesses and fatalities.
But public health experts are deeply concerned. The number of measles cases is the most since 1992, when, as the epidemic waned from its peak, there were 2,200 cases.
They fear what is to come. Even as Texas health authorities declared an end to the West Texas measles outbreak on Monday, they warned of “ongoing outbreaks of measles in North America and around the world,” and forecast additional cases in Texas.
Experts say some of the same forces seen in the early ’90s are driving the spread of this preventable disease. Case numbers have dropped but measles tends to be most active in winter and early spring, said Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician and the director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. With the school year resuming, public health authorities will be watching for more cases.
And they fear that vaccine skeptics may cite the end of the Texas outbreak as evidence of alarmism among public health officials.” (1)
“So far this year, 1,356 confirmed measles cases, largely from 32 outbreaks, have been reported across the US – compared with last year’s entire total of 285 cases and 16 outbreaks. While the Texas outbreak initially drove the case counts, other US outbreaks are now contributing in increasing numbers.
To prepare for new and expanding outbreaks, health officials will need more detailed breakdowns of which counties and communities have low vaccination rates and prepare for discreet but accessible vaccination campaigns and community-led education efforts. And when outbreaks hit, public health officials need the resources to mount effective responses quickly.
“You need to launch a catch-up vaccination campaign and explain why measles is a serious illness,” said Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. “And then provide vaccine access by creating catch-up vaccination clinics.””
“When children first appeared at the hospital in Lubbock with telltale rashes and respiratory symptoms, doctors moved quickly to run tests and notify Wells of potential measles cases. Wells wanted to understand exactly how public health officials had contained measles outbreaks in the past, especially among communities similar to those of the Mennonite patients they were seeing initially in the outbreak.
Immediately, she hit a snag: the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), normally a central resource for officials battling outbreaks like these, had been placed under a gag order by new Trump administration officials.
Instead, Wells turned to the literature, reading everything she could find.” (2)
“Mohave County health officials are warning people in the northern Arizona town of Colorado City and its surrounding communities about a growing measles outbreak. Nine cases of the highly contagious disease have been confirmed in the county.
Colorado City, which is situated on the Arizona-Utah border, had a population of about 3,300 people as of the 2020 census. A large portion of its residents are members of the offshoot Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or FLDS, which has a known vaccine hesitancy.
“We urge residents to become acquainted with the signs, symptoms and available vaccination options,” Mohave County health department spokesperson Danielle Lanaga wrote in an email to Phoenix New Times. “Public health officials are actively identifying exposure locations and notifying individuals who may be at risk.”” (3)
“The South Dakota Department of Health has confirmed the first case of measles in the state for 2025 in a Meade County resident, according to a press release.
Then we prepared. We developed clinical guidelines early for identifying, testing, and treating measles cases, and we were ready to share them the moment we needed to. These guidelines were quickly distributed across the state. We hosted healthcare provider webinars and posted up-to-date clinical resources on our website. We focused on clinics in communities with lower vaccination rates to help raise awareness and increase immunization efforts. We also activated our network of partners early. Healthcare providers and health systems stepped up right away to support our efforts, helping to identify and isolate cases quickly. Nurses visited small communities to educate individuals and families about measles and how they can stay protected and safe.”
“Why did South Dakota do so well? Because we were ready. We made access to the measles vaccine easy. We heard from individuals and families who decided to get vaccinated right away and from others who changed their minds and chose to protect themselves and their children against measles. We mobilized early, prioritized education and access, and launched a coordinated campaign in collaboration with our partners. Through it all, we informed and engaged the people of South Dakota. We removed barriers for those facing healthcare access challenges by offering 43 different pop-up immunization clinics in nearly every county in across the state.” (4)
“After the death of two children from measles in less than a week, Prof. Eyal Leshem, director of the travel medicine and tropical diseases center at Sheba Medical Center, told The Times of Israel that he was calling upon “every community leader who knows the children in their community are unprotected and are at risk of contracting a deadly disease that is vaccine preventable to act now.”
Since the measles outbreak began in Israel about three months ago, 526 cases have been diagnosed, of which 209 are active cases.
Most of the recently diagnosed patients are from the Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh area, which have large ultra-Orthodox communities, with most of the hospitalized patients being unvaccinated children.”
““We know in public health that the most effective interventions are done in close collaboration with community leaders,” Leshem said. “We hope that the Health Ministry is able to effectively collaborate with the community leaders of the affected communities to save children who are not vaccinated and at risk of death to protect their children.”” (5)
“Chihuahua, Mexico, is now North America’s measles epicenter as the state or province with the most cases recorded in 2025. As of August 13, the Mexican state reported 3,778 confirmed cases, almost three times the incidents across the entire United States. Another 5,286 cases were listed as probable.
Home to 3.9 million people, Chihuahua is also leading in measles fatalities, recording 13 of the country’s 14 deaths. Combined, the United States and Canada are reporting four deaths total.
Health authorities traced Chihuahua’s first case—a 9-year-old Mennonite child—to a family trip to Gaines County, Texas, where the disease has flourished this year. Mennonite communities, known for being vaccine hesitant, are also implicated in Canada’s hotspots.”
“Mexico’s state of Chihuahua has recorded four and a half times more measles cases than Texas, despite having approximately a tenth of the population
Several factors have contributed to the rapid spread of the disease. In mid-February, Mexico reported two imported measles cases: a 5-year-old in the southern state of Oaxaca and a 9-year-old who was the first case of the Chihuahua outbreak. Whereas the Oaxaca outbreak has been ostensibly contained after spreading only to five people, Mexico’s border region has seen a harsher fate.
The contrast is a textbook example of what happens when the virus arrives in a vaccinated versus an unvaccinated community, says Mauricio Rodríguez, a biomedical sciences researcher and expert in infectious diseases at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. In May, when Chihuahua’s Health Secretary Gilberto Baeza confirmed that the country’s first measles case involved a Mennonite child, he noted that only 40% or 50% of Mennonites in Chihuahua are vaccinated.” (6)
1.A 1990 Measles Outbreak Shows How the Disease Can Roar Back, By Gina Kolata, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/health/measles-outbreak-philadelphia.html
2.As measles gains ground in US, Texas offers lessons from its outbreak, by Melody Schreiber, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/22/measles-texas-lessons-vaccination
3.An Arizona town is at the center of a budding measles outbreak, By Morgan Fischer, https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona-town-is-at-the-center-of-a-budding-measles-outbreak-22441772
4.Why South Dakota didn’t have a measles outbreak, by Melissa Magstadt, https://www.argusleader.com/story/opinion/voices/2025/08/17/why-south-dakota-didnt-have-a-measles-outbreak-opinion/85657488007/
5.After 2 deaths, infectious disease doctor urges community leaders to back measles vaccines, By Diana Bletter Follow, https://www.timesofisrael.com/infectious-disease-doctor-calls-on-community-leaders-to-encourage-measles-vaccines/
6.Measles Takes Root in Mexico, by Gina Jiménez, https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/measles-takes-root-mexico
curated by Jonathan M. Metsch, Dr.P.H.
Clinical Professor of Environmental Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai