Texas is facing its largest measles outbreak in over 30 years, proving that what was once conquered can return if we let our guard down. How measles came back after being eradicated.

Twenty-five years after the disease was declared “eliminated” in the U.S., cases are rising again, with a Texas outbreak now spreading to New Mexico. Measles cases continue to rise in the United States nearly two and a half decades after the virus had been declared eliminated in the country.

Measles was considered to be eliminted in the U.S. in 2000, thanks to vaccine developments. But vaccination rates have dropped since the covid pandemic began.