What to Know About Measles to Be Safe

Measles is mak­ing head­lines again, and for good rea­son — it’s con­sid­ered one of the most con­ta­gious virus­es, and nine out of 10 sus­cep­ti­ble peo­ple exposed to measles devel­op the disease.

As of March 13, 2025, the U.S. has seen 301 report­ed measles cas­es, sur­pass­ing the 285 cas­es report­ed in all of 2024. More than half of those affect­ed are chil­dren under 18, and near­ly all were unvac­ci­nat­ed. The virus doesn’t just cause a rash and fever — it can lead to seri­ous com­pli­ca­tions, hos­pi­tal­iza­tions, and even death. So far, 36 peo­ple have been hos­pi­tal­ized, and trag­i­cal­ly, two have lost their lives.

As measles spreads, it’s a reminder of how impor­tant pro­tec­tion is, espe­cial­ly if you are trav­el­ing inter­na­tion­al­ly or to out­break set­tings this Spring or Summer. 

Measles Treat­ment & Vaccine

While there’s no spe­cif­ic cure for measles, it is pre­ventable with the MMR vac­cine (measles, mumps, rubel­la). This safe and high­ly effec­tive vac­cine is typ­i­cal­ly giv­en in two dos­es: the first around 12 months old and the sec­ond between ages 4 and 5. 

• First Dose: The first dose can be giv­en to infants as young as 6 months old if they’re trav­el­ing to inter­na­tion­al areas that are high­er risk. The first dose is about 93% effec­tive at pre­vent­ing the dis­ease.  
• Sec­ond Dose: The sec­ond dose can be giv­en as ear­ly as 28 days after the first dose. The sec­ond dose is about 97% effec­tive at pre­vent­ing the disease.

If your child is too young to get a vac­cine, the risk of measles expo­sure is still gen­er­al­ly low in a high­ly vac­ci­nat­ed pop­u­la­tion. Preg­nant women and patients with oth­er con­traindi­ca­tions should not receive the vac­cine. The vac­cine is con­sid­ered to be quite safe, and adverse reac­tions are rare.

Any­one born before 1957 is con­sid­ered immune to measles and does not require a vac­cine, except in rare med­ical cir­cum­stances. It’s high­ly unlike­ly that indi­vid­u­als who pre­vi­ous­ly con­tract­ed measles could con­tract it again. Any­one who received a two-dose series of the vac­cine is con­sid­ered immune. 

Pre­cau­tions When Traveling

If you’re plan­ning to trav­el — whether with­in the U.S. or abroad — it’s impor­tant to take extra pre­cau­tions to pro­tect your­self and your fam­i­ly from measles. Out­breaks have been report­ed in sev­er­al areas in 2025, includ­ing Texas and New Mex­i­co, and crowd­ed trav­el set­tings can increase the risk of exposure. 

If you’re vis­it­ing an out­break area either domes­ti­cal­ly or inter­na­tion­al­ly, con­sid­er tak­ing the fol­low­ing measures:

• Infants 6 – 11 months should be giv­en an MMR before any inter­na­tion­al trav­el, to out­break set­tings, or if they are at risk of com­ing in con­tact with any known per­son with measles. Trav­el dos­es are not count­ed in the stan­dard series; addi­tion­al dos­es are required after 12 months old. 
• Chil­dren over 12 months old who received their first dose should receive a sec­ond dose at least 28 days after the first dose.
• Unvac­ci­nat­ed teenagers and adults should receive two dos­es of MMR at least 28 days apart.
• Peo­ple trav­el­ing inter­na­tion­al­ly, espe­cial­ly to coun­tries with known measles out­breaks, should ensure they are up to date on all vaccinations.

In the event of a local out­break, lim­it your infant’s expo­sure to crowds, oth­er chil­dren, and any­one with res­pi­ra­to­ry (cold) symp­toms. If you are con­cerned that you or your child has measles or were exposed, con­tact your doctor’s office for more infor­ma­tion on what steps to take. 

Plan­ning a trip? Make sure your child has the prop­er vac­cines before you go. Sched­ule an appoint­ment with your pedi­a­tri­cian today!

How Measles is Spread

Measles spreads through infec­tious res­pi­ra­to­ry droplets, which enter the air through cough­ing or sneez­ing and can remain in the air and live on sur­faces for two hours. Symp­toms of measles may not appear for 8 – 12 days after expo­sure to the virus. 

Those infect­ed are con­ta­gious for about four days pri­or to the onset of the rash and for about four days after the onset of the rash. Below are con­tribut­ing fac­tors to the increase in measles cases:

• Trav­el­ers to the Unit­ed States
• Peo­ple return­ing from trav­el to oth­er countries
• Spread­ing of the dis­ease to per­sons who have not received a full vac­ci­na­tion series, including:
  • Unvac­ci­nat­ed individuals 
  • Those under one year old who are too young to receive the stan­dard vaccine 

Symp­toms of Measles

Com­mon symp­toms of Measles include: 

• High fevers: Up to 105 degrees Fahren­heit that may last sev­er­al days 
• Run­ny nose
• Cough
• Con­junc­tivi­tis: Red, watery eyes 
• Oral lesions: White-gray cir­cles on the inside of the cheeks, also known as Koplick spots

A few days after the start of the fever, a rash will devel­op. The rash presents with flat pink/​red spots that start near the hair­line as well as on the face and then spread down­ward through the body. The infec­tion can also cause pneu­mo­nia, which can be severe. 

If you or your child have measles symp­toms, call your doc­tor imme­di­ate­ly to deter­mine the best course of action. Seek emer­gency care if the symp­toms are severe, such as dif­fi­cul­ty breath­ing, a fever high­er than 105 degrees, dehy­dra­tion, or confusion.

His­tor­i­cal­ly, about 10 – 15% of patients need to be admit­ted to the hos­pi­tal due to the sever­i­ty of symp­toms, but that rate was high­er — at about 50% — in the 2024 out­break. The infec­tion can also cause encephali­tis (brain infec­tion), in about 1/1000 cas­es, of which 80 – 85% will have per­ma­nent brain dam­age. The over­all death rate for acute measles infec­tion is 1 – 3 out of 1,000. 

Addi­tion­al Measles Resources

Healthy​Chil​dren​.org, the Amer­i­can Acad­e­my of Pedi­atrics web­site for par­ents, has excel­lent arti­cles on measles. Addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion is also avail­able from the Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol and Prevention.