I apologize for being a day late with this weekly post. You can find Dr. Klotman’s Week 307 video address here. My summary and notes follow below.
Measles
- The current S. Carolina measles outbreak has now exceeded the number of cases that we had in West Texas in 2025
- There have been 789 cases in S. Carolina as of this past Friday
- There is also a large outbreak in Utah and Arizona
- Mexico has recorded its first Measles death of 2026 and has had 987 confirmed cases this month alone
- The US stands to lose its designation as a country that has eliminated this disease
- If you plan to travel to Canada, Mexico or many places in Europe (including Eastern Europe), and you take unvaccinated kids with you, they will be at greater risk of contracting Measles
- Europe recorded >127K cases in 2024 (2x the number in 2023 With major outbreaks in Romania and Kazakhstan)
- Factors contributing to these numbers are missed vaccinations during the COVID pandemic and increased vaccine hesitancy (fueled by medical disinformation)
- The WHO continues to support vaccination as the main defense against this disease
- In 2025, we had 49 distinct outbreaks (3+ related cases) in the US; in 2024 there were 16
- So far in 2026, we already have 2 outbreaks – 85% of cases are in people <20yo
- So far in 2026, the hospitalization rate has been 3% (11% in 2025) with no deaths so far
- Vaccinating kids <12mo is less effective because the immune response to the attenuated live virus in MMR is blunted by passive immunity conferred through breast feeding
- Complications of Measles
- Otitis media, partial hearing loss, deafness
- Diarrhea (and dehydration in infants)
- Hospitalization (20% of kids – worse in infants)
- Pneumonia (5%) – most common cause of Measles deaths
- Encephalitis 0.1% of cases causing permanent brain damage, seizures, deafness, or death
- Complications of Vaccination
- Hospitalization (1-4 per 10,000 require short hospitalization)
- No instances of pneumonia, brain damage, or death due to MMR vaccine
Longevity
- According to a recent Israeli study of Scandinavian twins, hereditary accounts for ~50% of the variation in individual longevity
- This hereditary component is often drowned out by factors such as access to healthcare and behavioral factors
- Other studies show that 40% of 90+yo develop dementia, the annual rate of incidence increases for age beyond 90. 80% also develop some degree of physical disability
- Among the oldest, declines in physical and cognitive abilities are affected by lifestyle factors
Other News: Recent evaluation of hospitalizations and serious illness related to COVID in folks who received last year’s COVID vaccine shows a reduction in hospitalizations of 45% among seniors 65+yo and vaccine efficacy of 79% with respect to the need for ventilatory support and prevention of death due to COVID. Vaccines work!!