Greetings, Reader!
The United States is experiencing the worst measles outbreak in decades. More than 900 cases have been confirmed across 30 states in 2025, with Texas reporting the majority. Although the World Health Organization declared measles to be eradicated in the United States in 2000, public health officials say declining vaccination rates have opened the door for its return.
β
πMeasles Resurfaces β What the Past Can Teach Us
πΌοΈ The Big Picture: Measles is a highly contagious and dangerous virus. Beyond the fever and rash, it can lead to pneumonia, brain swelling, and in rare cases, death.
The virus can also impair the immune system's "memory," making people vulnerable to infections they were previously protected against. This phenomenon, which scientists call "immune amnesia," can weaken a person's ability to fight off other diseases for months or even years after the initial infection. [1]
β οΈ Why It Matters: Infectious disease outbreaks test more than our health system. They raise broader questions: How do we balance individual choice with public safety? What role does trust in science, institutions, and each other play in stopping a virus?
β
π°οΈ Then vs. Now: Epidemics in American History
π1777 | George Washington and Smallpox Prevention
Smallpox posed a serious threat to the Continental Army during the War for American Independence. Like measles, it was a highly communicable disease. In a controversial, but pivotal decision, General George Washington ordered his troops to be inoculated against the disease--a process where healthy individuals were intentionally exposed to a milder case of smallpox in hopes of gaining protection from the full-blown disease.
β‘οΈ The results: Infection rates dropped, and the Continental Army avoided a potentially devastating loss of manpower. The United States also avoided a large civilian outbreak, as the Army moved from town to town and region to region. Historians consider this decision a turning point in the war effort.
Why it matters: Washington's mass inoculation order was one of the earliest examples of public health policy being used strategically in the interest of national security. [2]
β
π1955 | The Polio Vaccine and Public Confidence
Polio outbreaks were once common in the United States, especially among children. When the first effective vaccine became widely available in 1955, Americans responded by participating in nationwide vaccination programs.
β‘οΈ The results: Polio cases declined sharply. Within a generation, the U.S. had effectively eradicated polio.
Why it matters: This period is often remembered as a high point of public trust in medical innovation. [3]
β
π2025 | Understanding the Measles Resurgence
As of May 2025, most measles cases are appearing in individuals who are unvaccinated, or whose vaccination status is unknown.
Texas has reported more than 700 cases, including several in counties with below-average vaccination coverage.
Health officials emphasize the importance of verified information and informed decision-making in communities nationwide.
β
π¬ What History Reminds Us
Disease prevention efforts have long involved public debate β from colonial-era smallpox inoculation to modern vaccination programs. Trust, access, and communication remain key to public health success.
While technologies change, the need for shared solutions endures.
β
π§ Go Deeper
ποΈ From Inoculation to Vaccination, Part 1: Discover how early Americans responded to smallpox and how inoculation sparked medical breakthroughs and fierce public debate.
ποΈ From Inoculation to Vaccination, Part 2: Learn how the transition from crude inoculation to modern vaccination reshaped American health β and what it cost to get there.
πΏ David Hosack: Botany and Medicine in the Early Republic: Meet the physician who blended science, plants, and politics to help define American medicine after the Revolution.
π¦ Yellow Fever, Immunity & Early New Orleans: Explore how a deadly virus shaped New Orleans society, and how immunity became a form of social and economic capital.
π‘ Women Healers in Early America: Uncover the overlooked stories of women who treated the sick and advanced medical knowledge long before they were allowed formal titles.
β
π£οΈ What Do You Think?
Can stories from the past β like smallpox or polio β still move us to action today?
π© Hit Reply to share your thoughts.
β
π¬ Join the conversation in our Listener Community.
Have a good weekend,
βLiz Covartβ
Host, Ben Franklinβs Worldβ
β
π¨ Enjoy This Newsletter?
β
Forward it to a friend!β
π¬ If this newsletter was forwarded to you and you'd like to subscribe, click here.
β
PS:
Tim and I are moving back to Boston next month. The move will leave me without a recording studio for about six weeks, so I've been working hard to prepare the podcast so we have new episodes publishing while Tim and I get ready and settle into our new home.
In between packing and working on the show, I've been reading a novel this week, Tobacco Wives by Adele Myers. It's been a good historical fiction read in between finishing Andrew Lawler's A Prefect Frenzy, which explores the Revolution in the Virginia Tidewater region, and starting Karin Wulf's forthcoming, Lineage: Genealogy and the Power of Connection in Early America.
β
I'm excited about Karin's book! She's been working on it for a long time, and I've read different pieces of it over the years. I can't wait to read the whole book and see how all the pieces came together. You've heard a bit about this project, too, in a 2016 episode about the history of genealogy. You'll hear more from Karin in mid-July.
β
π End Notes
[1] Center for Disease Control, "Measles Cases and Outbreaks," https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html, accesesd May 7, 2025; Evan MacDonald, "Texas Measles Outbreak Surpasses 700 cases, with Most Among Children and Teens," Houston Chronicle, May 6, 2025, https://www.houstonchronicle.com/health/article/texas-measles-outbreak-update-20312822.php, accessed May 7, 2025; Dylan Scott, "4 Charts Reveal Just How Bad the Measles Outbreak Has Gotten," Vox, May 7, 2025, https://www.vox.com/vaccines/411756/us-measles-outbreak-cases-deaths-charts, accessed May 7, 2025;
[2] Stean Riedel, "Edward Jenner and the history of smallpox and vaccination," National Institute of Health, National Library of Medicine, January 2005, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1200696/, accessed May 7, 2025; Elizabeth Fenn, Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82 (Boston, MA: Hill and Wang, 2002); Andrew M. Wehrman, The Contagion of Liberty: The Politics of Smallpox in the American Revolution, (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2022).
[3] United States National Archives, "Jonas Salk and the Polio Vaccine," Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum, and Boyhood Home, https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/research/online-documents/jonas-salk-and-polio-vaccine, accesesd May 7, 2025; World Health Organization, "A Crippling and Life-Threatening Disease," https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/history-of-vaccination/history-of-polio-vaccination, accesesd May 7, 2025; PBS, "Salk Produces Polio Vaccine, 1952," https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dm52sa.html, accessed May 7, 2025.
β
π Further Reading
Elizabeth Fenn, Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82 (Boston, MA: Hill and Wang, 2002).
Andrew M. Wehrman, The Contagion of Liberty: The Politics of Smallpox in the American Revolution, (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2022).
β