Why the deadly, massive measles outbreak in Bangladesh has some American health experts concerned

A measles outbreak in Bangladesh that has killed nearly 400 people is spreading rapidly, and health experts say it could be dangerous even in the US, where Cases of the disease have emerged at levels not seen in decades as vaccination rates continue to decline.

Most of those who died of measles in Bangladesh in the past few weeks were children. The country’s Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) says the number of suspected cases has risen to more than 56,000, while regional media say many hospitals across the country are overcrowded.

That number of suspected cases has more than doubled since early April.

CBS News asked the minister of public health in Bangladesh, Dr. MA Muhit to comment on the country’s handling of the disease, but there was no response from his office at press time.

Local media showed pictures of the congestion in hospitals, some patients are treated on the floor due to lack of beds. Aid agencies report that many of those infected are children who may have been too young to be vaccinated or were only partially vaccinated.

“There has been a change in the provision of vaccinations by the government, which has led to delays and a three-year vaccination gap,” Miguel Mateos Muñoz, with the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF in Bangladesh, told CBS News. “For it to be effective it has to be two doses of the vaccine, but we see children who have only received one dose of the vaccine or no vaccine at all.”

What is measles and why is it dangerous?

Measles is one of the most infectious diseases in the world. It is easily spread from person to person, usually through droplets that can hang in the air for hours when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

If an unvaccinated person is exposed, there is about a 90 percent chance of contracting the disease. Children and the elderly are at high risk, and this disease can lead to symptoms of pneumonia, brain swelling, permanent disability and, in a low number of cases, death.

“A person with the virus can spread measles to others even before they know they have it,” according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which says people with the virus can spread it “from 4 days before to 4 days after” the outbreak trademark associated with the disease appears.

The World Health Organization notes that there is no specific treatment against measles, and although most people recover within two or three weeks, “measles can lead to complications such as pneumonia, diarrhea, ear infections, inflammation of the brain (encephalitis), blindness and death.”

“Approximately two or three people may die for every 1,000 reported cases,” according to the WHO, which estimates that nearly 100,000 people will die from the virus by 2024, despite effective vaccines.

Measles has spread rapidly in Bangladesh’s densely populated cities and refugee camps, and as UNICEF’s Muñoz explained, there are concerns that it could spread further.

“Measles has been found in 58 of the 64 districts in Bangladesh, so it’s spread throughout the country, and this is a country that travels across borders to neighboring countries,” he told CBS News.

A cause for concern in the US

The CDC has repeatedly warned that overseas outbreaks pose a threat to the health of Americans because measles can easily cross borders. The agency says measles anywhere can pose a risk everywhere, especially for people with less than 95% vaccination coverage.

Although measles vaccines have been available and widely used in the US since the 1960s, that 95% threshold is no longer met uniformly across the country.

As of May 7, the CDC recorded 1,842 confirmed cases of measles in the US since the beginning of the year, spread across 39 states and territories. About 93% of those cases are linked to outbreaks, not isolated travel cases. In comparison, the US recorded only 285 cases in 2024. By 2025, that caseload rises to 2,288, the highest number since 1991.

Most of the people infected in the US were unvaccinated children or people with unknown vaccination status, according to the agency.

CDC data shows combined MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccination coverage among US preschoolers has dropped from about 95% before the COVID-19 pandemic, to a national low of 92%, leaving hundreds of thousands of children at risk.

A county-level study published last year by Johns Hopkins University showed vaccination rates falling in 78% of the 2,066 US counties where data was collected.

American authorities declared measles officially eradicated in 2000, meaning the virus is no longer circulating in the country. But that status is now in jeopardy.

Public health investigators and the Kaiser Family Foundation warn that a continued outbreak could lead to more than 12 months of inactivity. transmission – a threshold that, if exceeded, can mean that measles is no longer technically eradicated in the US

Canada lost its measles-eradication status by late 2025 after a surge in conditions not unlike what the US is seeing now.

The CDC says most outbreaks in the U.S. begin when an unvaccinated traveler brings the virus home from a country experiencing a major outbreak.

According to the CDC, Mexico, Guatemala, parts of South Asia (where Bangladesh is located) and Africa are experiencing worrisome outbreaks.

CBS News health spokesperson Dr. Céline Gounder said Monday that this summer will present a major challenge to US health officials as thousands of fans travel to the World Cup soccer tournament, which is jointly hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada.

“What worries me most about the World Cup is actually measles hantavirusit is not Ebola. Measles is what worries me,” said Gounder, noting the outbreak of the highly contagious disease “in different parts of the world.”

“We ourselves could be the source of the outbreak, because we have low vaccination rates in some pockets of the country, so that’s what worries me the most,” he said.

A race against the clock in Bangladesh

There is hope that Bangladesh can control the outbreak, said UNICEF’s Muñoz.

The government of Bangladesh, supported by UNICEF and the UN’s World Health Organization, launched an emergency measles vaccination campaign.

“The rapid emergency vaccination campaign has been ongoing since May 5, and has reached its goal of vaccinating 18 million children,” he told CBS News.

He said that in order to prevent future outbreaks, and prevent them from spreading around the world, “the most important thing is to restore vaccination.”