TRACKING EMERGING VIRUSES – October 1, 2025 – Measles
“Protection from measles in particular dropped in 100 countries between 2010 and 2019, unravelling decades of progress, including in rich countries that had previously eliminated the highly infectious disease, according to a July analysis of global vaccination trends published in the journal Lancet.”
“After the World Health Organization established its routine immunization program in 1974, countries made significant efforts to protect children against preventable and sometimes fatal diseases; the program is credited with inoculating more than 4 billion children, saving the lives of 154 million worldwide.
Since the program began, the global coverage of children receiving three doses of the diphtheria-tetanus-whooping cough vaccine nearly doubled, from 40% to 81%. The percentage of kids getting the measles vaccine also jumped from 37% to 83%, with similar increases for polio and tuberculosis.
But after the COVID-19 pandemic, coverage rates dropped, with an estimated 15.6 million children missing out on the diphtheria-tetanus-whooping cough vaccine and the measles vaccine. Nearly 16 million children failed to get vaccinated against polio and 9 million missed out on the TB vaccine, with the biggest impact in sub-Saharan Africa. The study was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance.” (1)
“At a Knesset Health Committee meeting today, Dr. Sharon Elroei-Price, head of public health services at the Health Ministry, states that approximately 1,700 patients have been confirmed with measles in the past six months, 437 have been hospitalized since the outbreak began in May, and 39 are in intensive care.
Six children have died in the past two weeks, all of them younger than two, with no underlying conditions.
She warns that the number of unvaccinated children in the Haredi sector, in Beit Shemesh, Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Harish, Nof HaGalil, Modiin Illit, Kiryat Gat, Ashdod, and Safed has doubled since the previous measles outbreak in 2018.” (2)
Three Babies Die Within a Week as Measles Outbreak Spreads in Israel, https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-09-25/ty-article/.premium/three-babies-die-within-a-week-as-measles-outbreak-spreads-in-israel/00000199-80e3-d04a-adfd-bde3aeea0000
“Indonesia .The health workers on wheels are part of the regional government’s latest efforts to curb a deadly measles outbreak on Madura Island that has persisted for the past nine months. More than 2,600 children have already been infected this year and 20 have died.
But efforts to stop the outbreak from spreading through the predominately Muslim population are being hindered in part by concerns that some measles vaccines may not meet Islam’s halal standards because they use a stabilizer that is derived from pigs.” (3)
“Despite major measles outbreaks in the United States this year, new data show measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination coverage remains far below the level needed to prevent sustained transmission.1 A repeated cross-sectional study published in JAMA Network Open followed more than 149,000 children across a central Ohio pediatric care network for 20 months after a large 2022 post elimination outbreak and found no meaningful improvement in vaccination rates.1” (4)
“On Friday, President Trump doubled down on calling for changes to the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine. “BREAK UP THE MMR SHOT INTO THREE TOTALLY SEPARATE SHOTS (NOT MIXED!),” he wrote on his Truth Social account.
Currently, parents are offered either the MMR vaccine or a one-shot combination of measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (chickenpox) for their children. The combined, quadrivalent shot comes with a slight increased risk of febrile seizures if given before age 4, so the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and many medical experts recommend that physicians administer two shots if possible. But there is scant evidence to suggest dividing the MMR vaccine up further — and spreading the shots out over time — provides any health or safety benefit. And the added burden of going to the doctor’s office multiple times risks a decline in vaccination coverage.”
“There’s no scientific evidence that separating the vaccines provides any medical benefit. I can say that unequivocally,” said Jake Scott, an infectious disease physician at Stanford University. “In fact, all of the evidence points in the opposite direction, that the combined vaccine provides equal safety and efficacy, with fewer injections and better compliance.”” (4)
“Measles infections in the United States have reached a new high since the disease was declared eradicated in 2000, surpassing 1,500 cases on Sept. 24 with outbreaks growing in parts of Utah and Arizona, public health officials said.
A total of 1,514 measles cases have been confirmed in the United States as of Sept. 24, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Though the majority of cases are linked to a large outbreak that originated in West Texas, other outbreaks and cases have arisen from community transmission or during travel in other states.
In recent months, cases in parts of Utah and Arizona have steadily increased. As of Sept. 24, the Utah Department of Health and Human Services confirmed 42 cases, with most infections concentrated in southwest Utah near the Arizona state line.” (5)
“Health officials rushed to treat 11 infants that were exposed to measles with a preventative medication that may help them from developing the wildly contagious disease.
The eleven infants — all younger than 1 and therefore too young to be vaccinated against measles — were exposed to the virus when they visited the same Logan clinic as a patient with measles, the Salt Lake Tribute reported.
The exposure came amid an ongoing outbreak of the virulent disease in Utah, which so far has sickened 42 people. The patient was the first confirmed case of measles for the Bear River Health Department, which covers the counties of Box Elder, Cache and Rich, officials said in a Sept. 19 statement. That number has since risen, with four confirmed cases of measles in the Bear River jurisdiction, according to the Utah measles dashboard. The bulk of Utah’s cases had previously been in the southwest portion of the state.” (6)
“The interviews showed that knowledge of measles and measles vaccination was generally low, due to a lack of personal or professional experience with measles, which did not feature prominently in participants’ healthcare training. A lack of awareness of the symptoms, contagiousness, and potential complications of measles can delay the diagnosis of infected patients and lower the perceived need for vaccination. Those who are hesitant may also choose not to be vaccinated, due to the low perceived risk of being exposed to measles and the notion that it is a childhood disease that their body will be able to fight.
A now-discredited article published in 1998 that linked the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism also remains present in the minds of some healthcare workers. Almost half of the interviewees spontaneously referred to autism, although only a small number gave this as a reason for not being vaccinated or not vaccinating their children.
In addition, there is a considerable proportion of healthcare workers who do not know their measles vaccination status (ten of the 23 participants in our study). This is not surprising, considering that measles forms part of the childhood vaccination schedule and few adults will remember receiving their childhood vaccines, meaning they rely on their parents, GP or hospital occupational health department for up-to-date vaccination records. Access may be especially difficult if healthcare workers have emigrated from their country of birth. Unsurprisingly, the idea of an app or platform where healthcare workers could easily access and manage their vaccination records was popular.” (7)
My Son Was 1 Day Old When I Learned Our Family Had Been Exposed To Measles. Here’s What Happened Next., https://www.huffpost.com/entry/measles-exposure-anti-vaccine-movement_n_68d1bba8e4b03c190c21c872
Mosquito-Borne Illness Rarely Seen in U.S. Is Suspected on Long Island (Chikungunya), https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/nyregion/chikungunya-mosquito-illness-long-island.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
1.Millions of children are vulnerable to preventable diseases as global vaccination efforts stall, https://www.milwaukeeindependent.com/newswire/millions-children-vulnerable-preventable-diseases-global-vaccination-efforts-stall/
2.437 hospitalized with measles, 39 in ICUs, amid outbreak that started in May, By Diana Bletter, https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/437-hospitalized-with-measles-39-in-icus-amid-outbreak-that-started-in-may/
3.Halal concerns drive vaccine hesitancy as Indonesia fights measles outbreak, https://apnews.com/article/indonesia-islam-halal-measles-vaccine-9b6e631e78ed77bdd08bc19e60ede647
4.Measles Outbreak Fails to Push MMR Rates to Herd Immunity Levels, Study Reveals, by Grace Halsey, https://www.patientcareonline.com/view/measles-outbreak-fails-to-push-mmr-rates-to-herd-immunity-levels-study-reveals
5.US measles cases surpass 1,500 as outbreaks grow in parts of Utah and Arizona, by Thao, Nguyen, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2025/09/25/united-states-measles-cases-outbreaks-utah-arizona/86337067007/
6.Officials Rush to Treat 11 Infants Exposed to Measles amid Utah Outbreak, By Cara Lynn Shultz, https://people.com/officials-rush-to-treat-11-infants-exposed-to-measles-11817627
7.Measles resurgence highlights need for better vaccination awareness among healthcare workers, https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250926/Measles-resurgence-highlights-need-for-better-vaccination-awareness-among-healthcare-workers.aspx
curated by Jonathan M. Metsch, Dr.P.H.
Clinical Professor of Environmental Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai