Measles in the News, 2019–2026: Timing, Geography and Tone of Global Measles Coverage, and How It Compares with Research and Invention
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: We measure how measles was covered in a global news index from January 2019 to July 2026, using 32,717 de-duplicated measles articles, and set that coverage beside 12,737 research papers (2000–2025) and 236 patent families (2015–2024) on measles. Six results stand out: Two waves of attention. Measles took 7.05 of every 10,000 news articles in 2019. Its share fell 83.1% in 2020 and was below 1 per 10,000 in each year from 2021 to 2023. It rose 3.56-fold from 2023 to 2025, but the 2025 level (3.45) was still 51.1% below 2019. Peaks. The highest monthly share was April 2019, at 17.62 per 10,000. The highest since then was March 2025, the month of the outbreak in western Texas and New Mexico, at 7.2. Season. On average 43.26% of each year's measles coverage appears from January to April. Geography. The United States holds 64.01% of located measles news, 1.32 times its share of all news. Bangladesh (8.14) and New Zealand (5.81) are the most over-represented countries, and India is under-represented (0.22). Within the United States, New Mexico (27.51), South Carolina (7.42) and Texas (3.09) lead. Canada's attention rose 27.86-fold from 2023 to 2025. Tone and urgency. 78.8% of measles articles are negative in tone (all news: 33.6%), and 88.7% are rated critical priority (all news: 42.6%). Vaccine hesitancy is a theme of 26.75% of themed articles. Research and invention. Measles papers fell 45.1% as a share of all papers from 2019 to 2023 and recovered to 1.07 per 10,000 in 2025. Patent families are few, and China's office holds 51.9% of their office filings.
Author: Kumar, Narendra
Language: English
Topic: Virology and Viral Diseases
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7222906351
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