Spain is back to square one in the fight against measles. This Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) informed the Ministry of Health that endemic transmission of the disease has been re-established in the country after... worrying resurgence that occurred last yearIt was successfully eliminated in 2016, but as the ARA announced in early 2026The increase in infections in recent years jeopardized the eradication of the disease. Finally, the European Regional Verification Committee for the Elimination of Measles and Rubella (CRV) reversed course and withdrew the country's measles-free status a decade later.

"If the current trend continues, we will have 200 cases of measles this year," warns Jacobo Mendioroz, Deputy Director General of Surveillance and Emergency Response at the Public Health Agency of the Generalitat (Catalan Government). The rise in cases and outbreaks is increasing worldwide, including in Catalonia: while around 30 people were diagnosed with the disease in 2024, last year the figure was approximately 90. Although the disease has been considered eliminated for ten years, the progressive increase in infections means that the possibility of it circulating freely is greater. Most of the cases detected in Catalonia last year were imported from other countries, and Mendioroz predicts that this scenario will be repeated in 2026 because the incidence of the disease is growing worldwide. Therefore, however good the vaccination coverage in Catalonia may be, if more imported cases arrive, the risk of local outbreaks could "double or triple," the expert asserts, since measles is extremely contagious. In fact, it is the most infectious of all vaccine-preventable diseases.

María del Mar Mosquera (Ourense, 1967) is a microbiologist at Hospital Clínic and a measles expert. She is one of the people who participated in the development of the Ministry of Health's plan for the elimination of measles and rubella and works in the laboratory that analyzes the large volume of suspected contagion samples in Catalonia. She reviews the current situation of the disease in Catalonia and Spain following the outbreak in Garraf with ARA.

Of all the vaccine-preventable diseases, measles is the most contagious, and for the past three years, the number of cases and outbreaks in Europe has been increasing, including in Catalonia. Health authorities have considered the disease eliminated throughout the country for almost a decade because the cases detected are imported from other countries where community transmission is occurring. But with the progressive increase in infections, the possibility of indigenous outbreaks, of the disease once again becoming endemic and circulating freely, is greater. This week, for example, a worrying outbreak was detected in Garraf, with 13 confirmed cases and 200 people suspected of being infected. It originated within an anti-vaccine family, as reported by ARA. Furthermore, according to this newspaper, there are six cases that could be confirmed in the coming days, bringing the outbreak to nearly twenty infected people.

At least eight confirmed cases and around 100 people under investigation due to an active measles outbreak in Garraf. According to ARA, the outbreak originated within an anti-vaccine family in Sant Pere de Ribes, where most of the cases and contacts are concentrated. The Department of Health has detected a source of infection with a "high number of exposures" and has so far identified more than 300 contacts from different settings, such as healthcare centers, leisure venues, and universities. Given the number of cases, most of whom were not vaccinated, and the "high mobility and social interaction," health authorities warn that the risk of spread in the ground zero of the outbreak is high, despite the good vaccination coverage in Catalonia. The cases are in boom throughout Europe And in our country this year, 71 infections have already been detected, that is, double the number compared to last year, when 34 were identified.

For two years now, measles cases have been on the rise. are rising steadily throughout the worldThe COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that public health threats know no borders. If the incidence of an infectious disease skyrockets in a specific country, the risk of importing cases between neighboring countries increases. In Spain, measles cases are on the rise in 2025, especially in the Basque Country and Andalusia, with 374 cases reported as of April 27 across the state, according to the Carlos III Health Institute. Of these, Catalonia has reported 28. Thus, while the number of infections is growing around us, public health experts celebrate the fact that prevention strategies in our country are working and, so far, have managed to contain the disease. However, they warn that there is always the risk of an outbreak among groups that have not been vaccinated, which would cause cases to spike despite the efforts made so far.

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In less than two months, 110 cases of measles have been diagnosed in Spain, 17 of them reported in Catalonia. Last year, 217 were identified, according to the State Network for Epidemiological Surveillance. These data confirm a clear acceleration of infections, but the researcher at the National Center for Epidemiology-Carlos III Health Institute (CNE-ISCIII) Noemí López Perea assures that the majority of infections are imported and that, therefore, the State has not lost the status of elimination of the disease granted by the WHO.