Measles Is Making a Dangerous Return to the World. But Anti-Vaxxers Aren't the Only Reason

By now, measles ought to be optional. As long as parents are conscientious and governments are competent, no child has to contract the sometimes fatal disease again. But across Europe and in the U.S., that's not what's happening.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were more than 40,000 cases of measles--including 37 deaths--across Europe in just the first six months of 2018. That's a huge jump: in all of last year, there were 23,927 cases, and only 5,273 the year before.