Twenty-five years ago, the World Health Organization and U.S. officials celebrated a WHO declaration that a highly successful vaccination program had officially eliminated measles

The U.S. registered its first death from measles since 2015 this week, as a child who wasn’t vaccinated died in a measles outbreak in rural West Texas. Normally, most U.S.

"If the U.S. withdraws from the WHO, there is more of a chance of outbreaks of diseases like polio and measles," said Dr. Vidhya Prakash, associate dean of clinical affairs and population health and chief medical officer at SIU Medicine in Springfield.

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 10.3 million people were infected with measles in 2023.

In a news release, The Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed the first death from a measles outbreak in West Texas. According to the agency the case was a “school-aged child who was not vaccinated” and had been hospitalized in Lubbock.

Thanks to the introduction of a vaccine in 1963, measles was considered eliminated in the US in 2000. Yet the highly contagious disease has reemerged as a threat as declining vaccination rates have fueled outbreaks around the country.

Before the measles vaccine, there were over 30 million cases of the disease worldwide each year.

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 10.3 million people were infected with measles in 2023 and 107,500 died. Most were unvaccinated people or children younger than five. Cases were most common in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia where incomes are low and health services insufficient.

There was an measles outbreak when Candace DeMatteis was in college — back before cellphones were ubiquitous and the idea of photographing and texting a copy of vaccination records was unheard of. “I literally was kicked out of class,

The US has reported its first measles death since 2015 during an outbreak in Texas, highlighting global concerns over declining measles vaccination rates post-COVID-19. Lower vaccination rates have sparked increased cases in several regions,

The deadly return measles highlights growing gaps in immunization coverage across the US and globally, raising concerns among health officials.

While there are usually cases and even minor outbreaks reported yearly, the 2025 outbreak is on track to be the largest in six years.