14 Facts About Measles

Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus.

Measles is an airborne disease which spreads easily from one person to the next through the coughs and sneezes of infected people.

Measles vaccine is effective at preventing the disease, is exceptionally safe, and is often delivered in combination with other vaccines.

Measles affects about 20 million people a year, primarily in the developing areas of Africa and Asia.

Measles is caused by the measles virus, a single-stranded, negative-sense, enveloped RNA virus of the genus Morbillivirus within the family Paramyxoviridae.

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Measles virus uses a protein on its surface called hemagglutinin, to bind to a target receptor on the host cell, which could be CD46, which is expressed on all nucleated human cells, CD150, aka signaling lymphocyte activation molecule or SLAM, which is found on immune cells like B or T cells, and antigen-presenting cells, or nectin-4, a cellular adhesion molecule.

Measles is extremely infectious and its continued circulation in a community depends on the generation of susceptible hosts by birth of children.

Measles's was the first fatality in the U S from measles since 2003.

Measles is of zoonotic origin, having evolved from rinderpest, which infects cattle.

Measles is an endemic disease, meaning it has been continually present in a community and many people develop resistance.

Measles had not been seen on the islands for 60 years, so almost no residents had any acquired immunity.

Measles killed 20 percent of Hawaii's population in the 1850s.

Measles posited that the illness is psychosomatic and that the measles virus does not exist.

Measles outbreaks have been on the rise in the United States, especially in communities with lower rates of vaccination.