Result
Only six of the 54 patients hospitalized had underlying medical conditions that would have put them at higher risk. None of the 54 patients admitted to the hospital had weak immunity.
Of the 54 people admitted to hospital, 47 (87 per cent) developed measles, 39 (72 per cent) developed pneumonia, 25 (46 per cent) developed dehydration and 21 (39 per cent) developed diarrhoea. Seventeen (31.5 percent) patients developed co-infection with other pathogens, a known risk factor for measles, and 28 (52 percent) were treated with antibiotics.
Thirty-eight (70.4 percent) patients required supplemental oxygen to breathe. Thirty-seven (68.5 percent) experienced hypoxia, which is insufficient oxygen levels to support the body. Four hospitalized patients, all children, required treatment in the intensive care unit. Three had dehydration. The two required intubation and mechanical ventilation. One child died.
(A second child died in the Texas outbreak, but it occurred after the study’s time frame and was not included.)
Four out of five adults were pregnant women. Two of them gave birth while hospitalized and two of their infants were found to have active measles cases. One infant experienced symptoms of acute measles meningoencephalitis and was hospitalized weeks later, outside the time frame of the study.
With all this, the authors concluded that “Although many cases of measles are mild, approximately one in five people with confirmed measles in this outbreak required hospitalization for pneumonia, dehydration, or other complications, including rare cases of severe illness or death. Measles vaccination remains an important tool for the prevention of measles infection, severe disease, and hospitalization in both routine and outbreak settings.”
In 2025, a total of 2,288 measles cases were reported in the US, the highest number since 1991. 2026 is not even six months away, and the country is already close to reaching that number; As of May 28, the US has reported 1,983 confirmed cases of measles in 40 jurisdictions. There have been 30 new outbreaks since the beginning of the year. Overall, the country is on track to lose its measles elimination status.
<a href