Measles deaths soared worldwide last year

Measles deaths worldwide swelled to their highest level in 23 years last year, according to a report released Thursday, a stunning rise for a vaccine- preventable disease and one that health experts fear could grow as the coronavirus pandemic continues to disrupt immunization and detection efforts.

The global death tally for 2019 — 207,500 — was 50% higher than just three years earlier, according to the analysis, released jointly by the World Health Organization and the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. No measles deaths were reported in the United States, but measles cases in the country hit a record annual high of 1,282 across 31 states, the most since 1992, according to figures updated this month. As recently as 2012, the U. S. case number was 55.

Public health experts said the soaring numbers are the consequence of years of insufficient vaccination coverage. They worry that the pandemic will exacerbate the spread of measles, a disease that is even more contagious than COVID- 19.

Although reported cases of measles have been lower this year, public health experts fear such numbers are a drastic undercounting, because of the pandemic’s global disruptions to health care, therefore reducing detection and medical care for measles — as well as prevention efforts.

Measles outbreaks have occurred this year in at least half of the 26 countries that had to suspend vaccination campaigns because of the pandemic.