In the first 4 months of 2019, there have been over 750 confirmed cases of the measles across 23 states; that’s more cases than any year since 1994. But in order to be able to fight against this returning threat, we must fully understand it.

How did we get to this spot with the measles? Measles was first documented in Boston, USA but is thought to have been plaguing the world for more that 1500 years as records have been found of the disease from the 9th century. In 1971, after a failed attempt at a vaccine , the MMR vaccine was introduced, and, nearly 30 years later, the US declared measles eradicated in the US.

But in the past year there have been more and more cases of the measles caused mainly by reluctance or refusal of the vaccine and international travelers. In 2019, the World Health Organization warned that refusal or unwillingness to vaccinate has already contributed to the recent outbreak of measles worldwide.

In an effort to fight this trend against vaccines many social media companies and platforms have responded. Youtube added a warning about “vaccine hesitancy” to all anti-vax videos to name an example.

Found more about fighting this measles crisis here.