In 1919, there were almost 13 deaths from measles per 100,000 population in the United States. However, this rate had dropped to zero by the year 2021. In early 2025, an outbreak of measles in Texas resulted in the death of a child. This was the first measles death in the United States since 2015. Measles is a highly contagious disease, that is especially dangerous for children. However, vaccines have significantly decreased the rate of cases and deaths in the United States.

There were 285 new cases of measles in the U.S. in 2024. Measles, also known as rubeola, is an infectious disease that is highly contagious and affects mostly children. Common symptoms of measles include fever, runny nose, sore throat, cough, and a rash. Although death rates from measles have decreased around the world, it is still responsible for around 81,000 deaths worldwide per year. Measles vaccination The main reason for the decrease in measles cases and deaths is due to high vaccination rates. The widely used MMR vaccine protects against measles, mumps, and rubella and is safe and effective. In 2023, around 91 percent of adolescents in the U.S. aged 13 to 17 years had received an MMR vaccination. However, in recent years there has been a rise in measles cases in many parts of the world due to vaccine hesitancy. Vaccine hesitancy Vaccine hesitancy refers to a refusal or reluctance to have children vaccinated, despite the overwhelming evidence that vaccines are safe and effective. This hesitancy comes from a misunderstanding of the ingredients in vaccines and how they work, a mistrust of doctors and pharmaceutical companies, and belief in the unfounded associations of vaccines with other diseases and disorders.

Since 1980, the global number of measles cases has decreased dramatically. This statistic shows the number of cases of measles reported each year from 1980 to 2024 worldwide, by region.

Project Tycho datasets contain case counts for reported disease conditions for countries around the world. The Project Tycho data curation team extracts these case counts from various reputable sources, typically from national or international health authorities, such as the US Centers for Disease Control or the World Health Organization. These original data sources include both open- and restricted-access sources. For restricted-access sources, the Project Tycho team has obtained permission for redistribution from data contributors. All datasets contain case count data that are identical to counts published in the original source and no counts have been modified in any way by the Project Tycho team. The Project Tycho team has pre-processed datasets by adding new variables, such as standard disease and location identifiers, that improve data interpretabilty. We also formatted the data into a standard data format.

Each Project Tycho dataset contains case counts for a specific condition (e.g. measles) and for a specific country (e.g. The United States). Case counts are reported per time interval. In addition to case counts, datsets include information about these counts (attributes), such as the location, age group, subpopulation, diagnostic certainty, place of aquisition, and the source from which we extracted case counts. One dataset can include many series of case count time intervals, such as "US measles cases as reported by CDC", or "US measles cases reported by WHO", or "US measles cases that originated abroad", etc.

Depending on the intended use of a dataset, we recommend a few data processing steps before analysis:

• Analyze missing data: Project Tycho datasets do not inlcude time intervals for which no case count was reported (for many datasets, time series of case counts are incomplete, due to incompleteness of source documents) and users will need to add time intervals for which no count value is available. Project Tycho datasets do include time intervals for which a case count value of zero was reported.
• Separate cumulative from non-cumulative time interval series. Case count time series in Project Tycho datasets can be "cumulative" or "fixed-intervals". Cumulative case count time series consist of overlapping case count intervals starting on the same date, but ending on different dates. For example, each interval in a cumulative count time series can start on January 1st, but end on January 7th, 14th, 21st, etc. It is common practice among public health agencies to report cases for cumulative time intervals. Case count series with fixed time intervals consist of mutually exxclusive time intervals that all start and end on different dates and all have identical length (day, week, month, year). Given the different nature of these two types of case count data, we indicated this with an attribute for each count value, named "PartOfCumulativeCountSeries".

From 2000 to 2023, measles mortality in Africa reduced by 79 percent. Over this period, every region saw a decrease in measles mortality. This statistic shows the percentage change in measles mortality worldwide from 2000 to 2023, by region.

Rank, number of deaths, percentage of deaths, and age-specific mortality rates for the leading causes of death, by age group and sex, 2000 to most recent year.

Tuberculosis is one of the deadliest communicable diseases worldwide, causing around *** million deaths per year. Communicable diseases, also known as infectious diseases, are spread from person to person either directly or indirectly, such as through an insect bite or ingesting contaminated food or water. Some of the deadliest communicable diseases include HIV/AIDS, malaria, hepatitis C, cholera, and measles. Tuberculosis Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that affects the lungs. Tuberculosis disproportionately impacts the poorer, less developed countries of the world, such as in Africa and Southeast Asia. India reports the highest number of deaths from tuberculosis worldwide. HIV/AIDS Although deaths from HIV/AIDS have decreased over the last few decades, there were still around ******* AIDS-related deaths in 2023. Like many other communicable diseases, HIV/AIDS impacts developing regions more than the developed world. By far, the highest number of AIDS deaths come from Africa and Asia Pacific. Advancements in HIV treatment now allow those infected to live long and relatively normal lives, but access to treatment varies greatly.

Project Tycho datasets contain case counts for reported disease conditions for countries around the world. The Project Tycho data curation team extracts these case counts from various reputable sources, typically from national or international health authorities, such as the US Centers for Disease Control or the World Health Organization. These original data sources include both open- and restricted-access sources. For restricted-access sources, the Project Tycho team has obtained permission for redistribution from data contributors. All datasets contain case count data that are identical to counts published in the original source and no counts have been modified in any way by the Project Tycho team. The Project Tycho team has pre-processed datasets by adding new variables, such as standard disease and location identifiers, that improve data interpretabilty. We also formatted the data into a standard data format.

Each Project Tycho dataset contains case counts for a specific condition (e.g. measles) and for a specific country (e.g. The United States). Case counts are reported per time interval. In addition to case counts, datsets include information about these counts (attributes), such as the location, age group, subpopulation, diagnostic certainty, place of aquisition, and the source from which we extracted case counts. One dataset can include many series of case count time intervals, such as "US measles cases as reported by CDC", or "US measles cases reported by WHO", or "US measles cases that originated abroad", etc.

Depending on the intended use of a dataset, we recommend a few data processing steps before analysis:

• Analyze missing data: Project Tycho datasets do not inlcude time intervals for which no case count was reported (for many datasets, time series of case counts are incomplete, due to incompleteness of source documents) and users will need to add time intervals for which no count value is available. Project Tycho datasets do include time intervals for which a case count value of zero was reported.
• Separate cumulative from non-cumulative time interval series. Case count time series in Project Tycho datasets can be "cumulative" or "fixed-intervals". Cumulative case count time series consist of overlapping case count intervals starting on the same date, but ending on different dates. For example, each interval in a cumulative count time series can start on January 1st, but end on January 7th, 14th, 21st, etc. It is common practice among public health agencies to report cases for cumulative time intervals. Case count series with fixed time intervals consist of mutually exxclusive time intervals that all start and end on different dates and all have identical length (day, week, month, year). Given the different nature of these two types of case count data, we indicated this with an attribute for each count value, named "PartOfCumulativeCountSeries".

In 2024, there were a total of 285 cases of measles in the United States, with 120 of these cases among children aged under five years. From January 1 to September 30, 2025, there were 1,544 cases of measles. There were also three reported deaths from the disease during this time, the first deaths since 2015. Measles is a highly contagious disease that can be especially dangerous for young children. Vaccines against measles resulted in a significant decrease in cases in the United States over the last few decades; however, increasing vaccine hesitancy and skepticism has been blamed for recent outbreaks.

There was a protracted measles outbreak in Kismayo, Somalia between 2020–2021. The outbreak persisted despite availability of measles containing vaccine (MCV) through Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) services and reactive vaccination campaigns. We sought to estimate measles burden and MCV coverage during the outbreak while further identifying barriers and facilitators to care and vaccinations. We adopted a cross-sectional, sequential mixed-method approach with a retrospective household survey followed by key informant interviews (KIIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs). We used proxy-reported interview data from a household survey with a two-year recall period to estimate attack rates (ARs), case fatality ratios (CFRs), measles-specific mortality and MCV coverage. We performed thematic analysis on qualitative data from 12 KIIs and 8 FGDs. We surveyed 1,050 households representing 6,664 individuals and estimated an urban population of 405,181 (95%CI: 389,335–422,331). We identified 338 measles cases (AR: 5.1% [95%CI: 4.6-5.6]) and 11 measles deaths (CFR: 3.3% [95%CI: 1.4-5.2]). During the outbreak, we interpolated that 20,664 (95%CI: 17,909–21,651) measles cases and 682 (95%CI: 251–1230) deaths occurred across Kismayo. At start of recall, 49.5% (95%CI: 46.5-52.6) aged 6–59 months had one-or-more doses of MCV and this increased to 69.6% (95%CI: 66.9-72.2) by end of recall. Thematic analysis produced qualitative insights on barriers to accessing medical care, barriers to routine vaccination through EPI, barriers to vaccination through mass campaigns and facilitating factors for care and vaccination. We show an unacceptably high burden of measles due to limited access to medical care and low MCV coverage despite a widespread willingness to be vaccinated. To mitigate the problem of protracted outbreaks, we suggest adopting a consistent, community-centered approach to risk communication and community engagement, reducing non-healthcare costs associated with accessing care, ensuring daily availability of EPI vaccinations in all public facilities and overhauling the ways in which mass vaccination campaigns are implemented.

As of January 2022, *** cases of measles were confirmed in Nigeria. In the full year 2021, there were over 10,000 such cases in the country. According to the World Health Organization, in 2018, about ******* people died from measles worldwide. The majority of deaths are registered in countries with low-income and weak health facilities. Measles is considered one of the most contagious diseases.

Themes and sub-themes identified from thematic analysis.

In 2023, there were 11 reported cases of measles in Canada, compared to over two thousand cases in 1995. This statistic shows the number of reported cases of measles in Canada from 1930 to 2023.

This statistic displays the percentage of the world population that has been vaccinated with select routine vaccinations as of 2022. According to the data, globally, just ** percent of people have had a last Rota vaccine against the Rotavirus. Rotavirus is responsible for an inflammation of the intestines and stomach and causes severe gastrointestinal and diarrheal disease. Vaccination success worldwide All around the world, vaccinations have been effective in reducing the number of cases and deaths of various communicable diseases since the introduction of global vaccination programs in the 1970’s. For example, between 2000 and 2021, millions of deaths due to measles have been averted all over the globe. The final aim of vaccination is to eradicate the disease entirely, as is the case with smallpox: no cases have been reported since 1978. Under-immunized groups Despite the success of immunization programs, there are still groups lacking the recommended vaccinations; this is often due to a lack of access or resources within a country or region, although under-immunization can also be a result of hesitancy due to personal beliefs. Individual rights involving compulsory vaccinations has also remained a hot topic over the years- for example, support for government-required childhood vaccinations has decreased in the U.S. since 1991. In order to further grow vaccination coverage, targeted strategies are needed for under-immunized and vaccine-hesitant groups using context-specific interventions to increase and monitor immunization rates.

In 2024, around 1,185 petitions were filed with the United States National Injury Compensation Program (VICP) seeking compensation for injury or death caused by vaccines. However, just because a petition was filed seeking compensation for injury or death due to a vaccination does not mean that compensation was awarded. Over half of all such petitions filed in the U.S. since 1988 have been dismissed, and in 60 percent of cases in which compensation was awarded it was still not determined whether the alleged vaccine caused the alleged injury. The impact of vaccinations Vaccinations in the United States have had a significant impact on infectious diseases. For example, as of 2017, there are only about 120 new cases of measles per year, compared to over half a million annual cases before the use of vaccination. Vaccinations in the U.S. have also greatly decreased the number of annual cases of hepatitis A and B, rubella, and tetanus. COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy Vaccine hesitancy is a persistent issue in the United States. The issue became especially pertinent during the COVID-19 pandemic in which many people in the United States expressed reluctance to getting a COVID-19 vaccination. In December 2020, 59 percent of adults in the United States who stated they would definitely not or probably not get a COVID-19 vaccine said so because they were worried about possible side effects, while 55 percent said they probably wouldn’t get a COVID-19 vaccination because they do not trust the government to make sure the vaccine is safe and effective. Shockingly, one survey found that even 29 percent of health care workers stated they would probably or definitely not get a COVID-19 vaccine.

This statistic shows the annual number of cases of select infectious diseases in the U.S. before and after the development and use of vaccinations as of 2022. Before the use of vaccinations there were an estimated 530,217 new cases of measles per year in the United States. This number dropped to 121 new cases in 2022 due to the development and use of vaccinations.

Project Tycho datasets contain case counts for reported disease conditions for countries around the world. The Project Tycho data curation team extracts these case counts from various reputable sources, typically from national or international health authorities, such as the US Centers for Disease Control or the World Health Organization. These original data sources include both open- and restricted-access sources. For restricted-access sources, the Project Tycho team has obtained permission for redistribution from data contributors. All datasets contain case count data that are identical to counts published in the original source and no counts have been modified in any way by the Project Tycho team. The Project Tycho team has pre-processed datasets by adding new variables, such as standard disease and location identifiers, that improve data interpretabilty. We also formatted the data into a standard data format.

Each Project Tycho dataset contains case counts for a specific condition (e.g. measles) and for a specific country (e.g. The United States). Case counts are reported per time interval. In addition to case counts, datsets include information about these counts (attributes), such as the location, age group, subpopulation, diagnostic certainty, place of aquisition, and the source from which we extracted case counts. One dataset can include many series of case count time intervals, such as "US measles cases as reported by CDC", or "US measles cases reported by WHO", or "US measles cases that originated abroad", etc.

Depending on the intended use of a dataset, we recommend a few data processing steps before analysis:

• Analyze missing data: Project Tycho datasets do not inlcude time intervals for which no case count was reported (for many datasets, time series of case counts are incomplete, due to incompleteness of source documents) and users will need to add time intervals for which no count value is available. Project Tycho datasets do include time intervals for which a case count value of zero was reported.
• Separate cumulative from non-cumulative time interval series. Case count time series in Project Tycho datasets can be "cumulative" or "fixed-intervals". Cumulative case count time series consist of overlapping case count intervals starting on the same date, but ending on different dates. For example, each interval in a cumulative count time series can start on January 1st, but end on January 7th, 14th, 21st, etc. It is common practice among public health agencies to report cases for cumulative time intervals. Case count series with fixed time intervals consist of mutually exxclusive time intervals that all start and end on different dates and all have identical length (day, week, month, year). Given the different nature of these two types of case count data, we indicated this with an attribute for each count value, named "PartOfCumulativeCountSeries".