An illustration of the measles virus showing giant multinucleated cells, or Warthin-Finkeldey cells. These cells are found in hyperplastic lymph nodes early in the course of a measles infection.
Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library/Getty Images
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Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library/Getty Images
An illustration of the measles virus showing giant multinucleated cells, or Warthin-Finkeldey cells. These cells are found in hyperplastic lymph nodes early in the course of a measles infection.
Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library/Getty Images
Measles cases are on the rise in the United States.
The Pan American Health Organization declared the disease eliminated in 2000, thanks to widespread vaccination efforts by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But it’s still an issue globally, which means an unvaccinated person could catch the highly infectious disease abroad and bring it back to the United States. And declining vaccination rates, particularly in young children, are causing public health officials to worry about the impact of emerging outbreaks.
That’s the case in West Texas and New Mexico, where a growing measles outbreak now numbers around 300 confirmed cases — more than the total number of measles cases reported in the U.S. in all of 2024.
Right now, NPR health correspondent Maria Godoy says that the Texas outbreak is still limited to remote rural areas where vaccination rates are low. But measles is highly contagious – more infectious than COVID-19, smallpox, or even Ebola. So, if an infected person travels to another community with low vaccination rates, that person could potentially sow another outbreak upon returning.
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This episode was produced by Hannah Chinn and edited by Rebecca Ramirez and Jane Greenhalgh. It was fact-checked by Tyler Jones. The audio engineer was Jimmy Keeley.
