Measles could become endemic in U.S. again, researchers warn

The United States is at a tipping point for the return of endemic measles a quarter century after the disease was declared eradicated in the country, researchers warned this week (Source: “U.S. at tipping point for return of endemic measles,” Reuters, April 24).
 
At current U.S. childhood vaccination rates, measles could return to spreading regularly at high levels, with an estimated 851,300 cases over the next 25 years, computer models used by the researchers suggest.
 
If rates of vaccination with the measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, shot were to decline by 10%, an estimated 11.1 million cases of measles would result over 25 years, according to a report of the study in JAMA.
 
Measles has not been endemic, or continuously present, in the United States since 2000.
 
With vaccination rates dropping for MMR shots as well as for other childhood vaccines, outbreaks of preventable infectious diseases are increasing. There have been 10 reported outbreaks and at least 800 measles cases in the U.S. so far in 2025, including 624 cases and two deaths in one Texas outbreak, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
 
The latest-available data  shows 30 measles cases in Ohio, with:
• 14 cases in Ashtabula County
• 14 cases in Knox County
• One case a piece in Allen and Holmes counties