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measles outbreak 2026

Measles is the most contagious disease routinely encountered in high-income countries, and that single fact explains the pattern of every recent outbreak. Its basic reproduction number is high enough that suppressing transmission requires roughly ninety-five percent of a connected population to be immune. Fall below that and the virus does not spread slowly — it spreads explosively, because almost every susceptible contact becomes a case.

  • Roughly one in five unvaccinated children who contract measles requires hospitalisation.
  • Pneumonia is the most common cause of measles death in young children.
  • Encephalitis occurs in approximately one case per thousand and can leave permanent neurological damage.
  • Measles causes prolonged suppression of immune memory, leaving survivors more vulnerable to other infections for years afterwards.

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