Measles News and Research

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Measles is a highly contagious, serious disease caused by a virus. It remains a leading cause of death among young children globally, despite the availability of a safe and effective vaccine. An estimated 197 000 people died from measles in 2007, mostly children under the age of five.

Measles is caused by a virus in the paramyxovirus family. The measles virus normally grows in the cells that line the back of the throat and the lungs. It is a human disease not known to occur in animals.

Predicting measles vaccination coverage for targeted public health action

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.

28 Jul 2025

Tribal health officials work to fill vaccination gaps as measles outbreak spreads

Cassandra Palmier had been meaning to get her son the second and final dose of the measles vaccine. But car problems made it difficult to get to the doctor.

24 Jul 2025

Forever chemicals cross placenta and breast milk affecting babies’ immunity

New research reveals that tiny amounts of PFAS-widely known as "forever chemicals"-cross the placenta and breast milk to alter infants' developing immune systems, potentially leaving lasting imprints on their ability to fight disease.

23 Jul 2025

Over 14 million children miss lifesaving vaccines threatening global goals

More than 14 million children missed out on lifesaving vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough last year, putting global goals off track, new UN data shows.

22 Jul 2025

AI and wastewater surveillance unite to detect emerging viruses

Wastewater surveillance became a popular choice among public health officials looking to track rapid virus mutations and spread patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

21 Jul 2025

APOE ε4 variant reveals hidden risk factors beyond Alzheimer’s

Researchers discovered that people carrying the APOE ε4 gene variant share a unique immune-related protein signature across their blood, brain, and cerebrospinal fluid—regardless of neurodegenerative disease diagnosis. This signature reveals a fundamental, disease-independent vulnerability linked to APOE ε4, reframing our understanding of genetic risk in conditions like Alzheimer's, Parkinson’s, ALS, and FTD.

21 Jul 2025

Measles outbreaks surge worldwide, driven by declining immunization coverage

The Global Virus Network (GVN), a coalition of leading human and animal virologists from 80+ Centers of Excellence and Affiliates in more than 40 countries, is sounding the alarm over a sharp resurgence of measles cases in the United States and globally.

17 Jul 2025

WHO and UNICEF urge action to protect children through vaccines

In 2024, 89% of infants globally – about 115 million – received at least one dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP)-containing vaccine, and 85% – roughly 109 million – completed all three doses, according to new national immunization coverage data released today by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF.

15 Jul 2025

Many Americans turn to AI for health answers despite accuracy warnings

Traditionally, individuals asked health questions of their primary health care provider. Confidence in that provider as a source of trustworthy health information has been consistently high in recent years and was at 90% in April, according to survey data from the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania.

14 Jul 2025

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Digesting Trump’s big budget law

As he had wanted, President Donald Trump signed his big budget bill into a big budget law in a White House ceremony on July 4, cementing, among other things, billions of dollars in cuts to health programs such as Medicaid.

10 Jul 2025

Vanderbilt and Parse Biosciences team up to develop antibody treatments for measles

Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Parse Biosciences, an innovator in single-cell sequencing, are collaborating on a new treatment to help unvaccinated measles victims, as the U.S. measles outbreak has now reached its highest case count in 30 years.

8 Jul 2025

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Trump’s bill reaches the finish line

Early Thursday afternoon, the House approved a budget reconciliation bill that not only would make permanent many of President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts, but also impose deep cuts to Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and, indirectly, Medicare.

3 Jul 2025

Survey: Many adults unaware of key facts that can help prevent SIDS

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the unexpected, unexplained, sudden death of a child younger than one year old.

3 Jul 2025

Confusion persists over breast cancer screening guidelines

Mammograms can find cancer early before symptoms appear. Regular screening decreases the risk of dying from breast cancer.

3 Jul 2025

A Texas boy needed protection from measles. The vaccine cost $1,400.

In the early days of the West Texas measles outbreak, Thang Nguyen eyed the rising number of cases and worried. His 4-year-old son was at risk because he had received only the first of the vaccine's two doses.

30 Jun 2025

Kennedy’s vaccine advisers sow doubts as scientists protest US pivot on shots

As fired and retired scientists rallied outside in the Atlanta heat, an advisory panel that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. handpicked to replace experts he'd fired earlier met inside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's headquarters to plan a more skeptical vaccine future.

27 Jun 2025

New U.S. poll shows strong backing for routine childhood vaccines

In the midst of a multi-state measles outbreak, a new poll by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the de Beaumont Foundation finds that most U.S. adults (79%) say parents should be required to have children vaccinated against preventable diseases like measles, mumps, and rubella to attend school.

26 Jun 2025

Monitoring wastewater proves effective in forecasting COVID trends

Published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, a University of Minnesota research team demonstrated that measuring SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater continues to accurately predict COVID-19 infections in a community.

24 Jun 2025

Many older people embrace vaccines. Research is proving them right.

Kim Beckham, an insurance agent in Victoria, Texas, had seen friends suffer so badly from shingles that she wanted to receive the first approved shingles vaccine as soon as it became available, even if she had to pay for it out-of-pocket.

23 Jun 2025

Why doctors say measles isn’t just back, it’s a warning sign for us all

A new editorial outlines the alarming resurgence of measles in the U.S., with over 880 cases reported by April 2025, largely driven by domestic transmission and declining vaccination coverage. The authors warn that without urgent public health action, measles could become endemic again, exposing broader vulnerabilities in vaccine-preventable disease defenses.

17 Jun 2025