US measles total climbs to 800 cases, 10 outbreaks | CIDRAP (as of mid-April 2025)
Context – Europe measles cases in 2024:
“A total of 127,350 cases were reported in the region in 2024, double the number of cases reported for 2023 and the highest number since 1997, according to analysis by WHO and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).”
There’s been non-stop doomerism headlines about measles in the U.S. but context would be helpful.
I had measles and mumps as a child in the 1960s – in fact, I had them at the same time – and survived!
In about 2023, I received one dose of MMR vaccine. A titer test showed that I had antibodies to measles and mumps but not to rubella. I have since learned that rubella is close to non-existent in the United States.
I also received a DTaP tetanus booster shot – however, I have since learned that tetanus is nearly non-existent in the U.S. Tetanus is not a contagious disease but is obtained primarily from contact with tetanus spores in the soil – and today primarily affects agricultural workers and others likely to have close soil contact (it can affect some others too). My doctor suggested tetanus is no longer a risk factor for me – but my brain was stuck on stupid and still hearing comments from my last booster shot ten years earlier.
