In 2025, France recorded more than 800 cases of measles, an increase of nearly 501 per 100,000 inhabitants compared to the previous year, according to a report published on Monday, May 18, 2026, by Public Health France. This disease is also resurging elsewhere in the world.
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More than 800 cases, seven deaths recorded
Last year, France experienced " 873 cases, including 128 imported, reported "of measles, or a " an increase of 80% compared to 2024", summarizes Public Health France. More than 300 of these cases resulted in hospitalization. Seven deaths were recorded, including four adults and three children. However, the children's deaths were due to complications of infections contracted before 2025.
Catch-up vaccination needed
This increase in cases is prompting " to strengthen efforts to catch up on vaccinations"The agency concluded, suggesting that they target particularly teenagers and young adults "and to add the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to the campaigns already in place in schools against papillomavirus and meningococcal infections.
Measles cases had been virtually eliminated in France at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in the early 2020s, against a backdrop of strict health restrictions.
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But, in recent years, they have seen a clear recovery, a situation largely attributed by experts to a decline in measles vaccination rates, well below the 95% recommended to eradicate the disease.
Last year, more than half of French cases – 60.3% – were unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated, according to Public Health France.
Read alsoThe measles virus has no other reservoir than an infected human.
Measles is also making a comeback elsewhere in the world
The French situation is not unique. In 2024, a resurgence of measles virus transmission was observed internationally in many countries, with a sharp increase in cases and outbreaks, including in Europe and Central Asia where nearly 151,000 cases were observed.", the health agency reminds us.
But several European countries have stemmed the trend by 2025, unlike France where the increase continued. “ The existence of major epidemics in neighboring countries with frequent exchanges with France (Morocco, Romania in particular) may have facilitated and multiplied the importation of viruses", says Public Health France.
Read alsoThe worst measles epidemic of the 21st century in the United States
In the United States, which had eradicated the disease but is now experiencing the worst measles epidemic in over 30 years (nearly 2,300 cases in 2025, nearly 2,000 cases since the beginning of 2026), Donald Trump's Secretary of Health, Robert Kennedy JrHe is accused of aggravating the situation by spreading a false theory linking the MMR vaccine to autism. The politician is known for his Vaccinoscepticism.
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