Measles made its way back into the U.S., but new ways to prevent the disease may be on the horizon.

Illustration of infectious diseases under a microscope
(Adobe Stock)

Once thought to be eliminated in the U.S., measles has returned, leaving its unpleasant symptoms and tell-tale itchy rash in its wake. With more people contracting and spreading the disease, ways to avoid or treat it have revived. "As vaccination rates fall and infections rise, scientists are racing to develop drugs they say could prevent or treat the disease in vulnerable and unvaccinated people," reports Dominique Mosbergen of The Wall Street Journal.

A little over 20 years ago, looking for ways to treat measles wasn't a consideration, but now some biotech companies and universities are working on measles prevention without the typical MMR vaccination. Mosbergen writes, "The drugs are still a ways from becoming available to patients but could offer alternatives to people who are immunocompromised, don’t respond to the measles vaccine or are vaccine skeptics."

Not all medical professionals see new measles treatments as a positive development because they could "further drive the drop in vaccination. Nationally, 92.5% of kindergartners received the measles, mumps and rubella . . . shot in the 2024-25 school year," the Journal reports. "In 2019-20, the vaccination rate was over 95%, which is the rate encouraged by health authorities to prevent community transmission of measles."

Invivyd, one of the companies working on a new measles treatment, uses measles "antibodies that are lab-made versions that can be delivered intravenously or as an injection and boost immunity immediately," Mosbergen explains. "They could benefit newborns and immunocompromised people who can’t be vaccinated, as well as the minority of people who don’t respond to the vaccine or whose immunity has waned."

Scientists haven't studied the measles virus as much as other communicable diseases because the vaccine was so effective, but to develop new treatments, researchers have "been forced to better understand measles," Mosbergen reports. "The body’s immune response to measles, for instance, hadn’t been well understood."