While measles symptoms typically resolve in a few weeks, the virus can cause pneumonia, making it difficult for patients, especially children, to get oxygen into their lungs. It may also lead to brain swelling, which can cause lasting damage, including blindness, deafness and intellectual disabilities.

For the past 25 years, measles has been considered eliminated in the U.S. because it has not continuously spread over a yearlong period. There are still periodic outbreaks, howeve