Good evening. I'm John Yang. The growing measles outbreak in the southwestern United States claimed a second life this week.

New Mexico health officials said an unvaccinated adult who did not seek medical care tested positive for the virus after dying.

Measles is a highly contagious disease, but in 2000, health officials said that the widespread administration

of the measles vaccine had eliminated it in the United States. But now, the CDC warns

that more cases can be expected. So far this year, more than 220 cases have been reported

across 12 states. Texas, where the outbreak first emerged and where late last month an unvaccinated child died,

has the majority of the cases, at least 198 since late January.

Jessica Melati-Rivera is an infectious disease epidemiologist at the De Beaumont Foundation.

That's a philanthropy that promotes public health.

Jessica, help us put this in context. There have been measles outbreaks in recent years. How is this one different or is it

different? Yeah, it is different. We have had measles outbreaks in previous years. In 2019,

the U.S. nearly lost the elimination status because of 1,300 cases that were reported

throughout New York and New Jersey. And in 2013, there was an outbreak. When we say outbreak,

we refer to cases that involve three or more infections. In 2024, there were a number of outbreaks.

But two months into 2025, this is our third outbreak, and it's growing to be one

of the worst. So it's, you know, when we talk about this, it is unusual for this type of scale,

but because of decreasing vaccination rates and vaccine refusal in general, we are seeing

emerging cases happen on occasion.

Vaccine refusal, is that the main driving force for this outbreak or the previous outbreaks?

Yes. When we talk about measles herd immunity, which refers to the vaccination rate that we

need to prevent measles outbreaks, it's 95% or higher. When we dip below that percentage,

that's when we start to see new cases emerge. It is the most

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