As of Nov. 4, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that there have been a total of 1,681 confirmed measles cases in the United States. Of those, 1,658 were reported from 42 U.S. states, and the remainder were from international visitors to the U.S. Although the United States continues to vaccinate especially children against measles (MMR vaccine protects against measles, mumps and rubella), 92% of the reported cases were either among patients who were unvaccinated, or their vaccination status was unknown.
Measles is a highly contagious disease that can be deadly: “3 in 1,000 people who contract measles will die. For those who are vulnerable due to preexisting conditions that impact their immune system, measles can be even more dangerous,” reported the University of Chicago Medicine website in May 2025. “However, if everyone is vaccinated, no one will die. Before the vaccine, there were up to 500 U.S. deaths each year from measles, and now it’s completely preventable.”
It noted that due to the U.S. vaccination policy, measles was declared “eliminated” in the country in 2000; “eliminated,” according to the CDC guidelines, occurs when a disease is no longer present in a particular geographical area; “eradication” occurs when a disease has been completely removed from the global population. Smallpox (affects humans) and rinderpest (affects ruminants) have been eradicated throughout the world due to concerted vaccination programs.
Avian flu (“bird flu”) is also being monitored by the U.S. CDC, which reports that:
• “H5 bird flu is widespread in wild birds worldwide and is causing outbreaks in poultry and U.S. dairy cows with several recent human cases in U.S. dairy and poultry workers.
• “While the current public health risk is low, CDC is watching the situation carefully and working with states to monitor people with animal exposures.”
That has meant that, since this particular strain of virus affects both dairy herds and poultry, since 2024, some estimated “thousands of dairy cows have been culled or have died due to avian flu outbreaks in the U.S. since March 2024. Reports indicate that in at least one study, 6.8% of sick cows died or were euthanized, and an additional 31.6% were culled soon after,” reported the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP).
Additionally, since the beginning of 2025, over 2 million turkeys and over 40 million chickens have been killed due the avian flu, with a significant number of those being laying hens, affecting egg prices, reported Think Global Health website and The Poultry Site.
