DETROIT — Faculty experts from Wayne State University are available to discuss the current measles outbreak and offer advice to the public.

The ongoing outbreak in Texas, New Mexico and now Kentucky has brought an illness once eradicated in the U.S. back into the public health spotlight.

Measles, a highly contagious airborne disease, at onset can seem like a typical virus with a cough, high fever, rash and other symptoms, but it can lead to severe health complications, such as pneumonia and encephalitis, and even death. The virus is especially dangerous to children under 5 and those who are not vaccinated.

“The current outbreak of the highly contagious measles virus is very alarming,” said Paul Kilgore, M.P.H., M.D., F.A.C.P., professor in Wayne State University’s Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and a leader in the Center for Emerging and Infectious Diseases. “The declining vaccination rates due to increasing vaccine hesitancy are of great concern, and cases will likely continue to rise due to various factors, including misinformation about vaccines. With the current vaccination trends, it may take many years to return to elimination status that was achieved 25 years ago."

The first vaccine for measles became available in 1963. In the preceding decade, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 3 to 4 million people in the United States were infected each year, with nearly all children contracting measles by the time they were 15 years old. The CDC states that, in each year prior to 1963, nearly 500 people died, approximately 48,000 were hospitalized and approximately 1,000 suffered with encephalitis from the measles. Due to high vaccination rates, the disease was declared eliminated in the United States in the year 2000.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that measles vaccinations averted more than 60 million deaths between 2000 and 2023. The WHO added that, despite a safe and cost-effective vaccine being available, there were an estimated 107,500 measles deaths globally in 2023, mostly among unvaccinated or under-vaccinated children aged 5 or younger.

“The rising measles cases in Texas are a reminder that getting vaccinated is not a personal choice, but a collective responsibility,” said Teena Chopra, M.D., M.P.H., assistant dean in Wayne State’s School of Medicine. “Protecting ourselves means protecting those around us, especially the most vulnerable.”

Wayne State University Center for Emerging and Infectious Diseases (CEID) experts who are available to speak to the media on the current outbreak include:

Teena Chopra, M.D., M.P.H., professor and assistant dean in Wayne State University’s School of Medicine, is a research expert in the epidemiology of health care associated Infections, infection prevention antibiotic stewardship and immunization, and has a special interest in immunization and studying the epidemiology of infections, including clostridium difficile and multi-drug-resistant organisms.

Paul Kilgore, M.P.H., M.D., F.A.C.P., professor of pharmacy practice in Wayne State University’s Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, is a research expert on vaccine-preventable diseases, infectious disease epidemiology and antimicrobial resistance.

Matt Seeger, Ph.D., professor of communication in Wayne State University’s College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts, is a research expert on crisis and emergency risk communication, infectious disease outbreaks and health mis- and dis-information and rumors.

Marcus Zervos, M.D., clinical professor of internal medicine in Wayne State University’s School of Medicine, and division head of infectious diseases, Henry Ford Health System, is an expert on the epidemiology, prevention and outcomes of serious enterococcal and S. aureus infections, as well as multi-drug antimicrobial resistant pathogens.

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Wayne State University is one of the nation’s pre-eminent public research universities in an urban setting. Through its multidisciplinary approach to research and education, and its ongoing collaboration with government, industry and other institutions, the university seeks to enhance economic growth and improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit, state of Michigan and throughout the world. For more information about research at Wayne State University, visit research.wayne.edu.

Wayne State University’s research efforts are dedicated to a prosperity agenda that betters the lives of our students, supports our faculty in pushing the boundaries of knowledge and innovation further, and strengthens the bonds that interconnect Wayne State and our community. To learn more about Wayne State University’s prosperity agenda, visit president.wayne.edu/prosperity-agenda.