Measles doubles in a month: experts warn to get vaccinated before the holidays

From 37 cases in April to 65 reported in May: measles “doubles” in one month, continuing the upward trend. Which is all the more worrying in view of the summer holidays. Because travel is one of the main vehicles, so much so that 20% of the 334 cases - of which almost 90% in unvaccinated people - reported since the beginning of 2025 have been associated with international travel, thanks to the many “long weekends” in this first half of the year, a figure that is up compared to 18% in the previous period.

The Istituto Superiore di Sanità is launching the warning to get vaccinated before leaving for the holidays, in light of the trends of the last few months and the June bulletin on measles and rubella, which reports the results of the surveillance coordinated by the Department of Infectious Diseases of the ISS with the contribution of the national network of regional laboratories.

Vaccination status is known for 313 of the 334 cases reported in 2025 and in 275 cases (almost 90%) the affected people were unvaccinated, the ISS explains. In about a third of the cases, 108, at least one complication was reported: among the most frequent hepatitis or increased transaminases and pneumonia, but keratoconjunctivitis, diarrhea, respiratory failure, stomatitis, thrombocytopenia, laryngotracheobronchitis, otitis, and convulsions also occurred. Three cases of encephalitis were reported, respectively in two adults and a preadolescent, all unvaccinated.

The experts' appeal is therefore to "verify your measles vaccination status before undertaking any trip abroad. Almost 80% of cases occur in people aged 15 or over, most of whom are unvaccinated or have only had one dose. And children also need to be protected: the age group most affected, in terms of incidence, remains under five, who are also particularly vulnerable to short- and long-term complications of measles. But cases continue to be reported among infants, for whom, as the experts underline, "protection depends on a high level of immunity in the population, given that the recommended age for the administration of the first dose of the MMR vaccine is 12 months".

Define a shared roadmap and a manifesto to strengthen the fight against the human papilloma virus (HPV) in Europe, which still shows vaccination coverage far from the WHO target of 90% for 2030, with data that in 2023 stood at 36% among fifteen-year-old girls and 24% among boys.