France's Measles Outbreak in 2025: Key Statistics and Trends

From January 1 to December 31, 2025, 873 cases of measles were reported in France, according to Sante publique France data. The decline in the number of cases observed since May continued until September, and then the number of cases remained very low until the end of December, consistent with the known seasonality of measles. More than one-third of the cases required hospitalization (314, 36%), including 12 in intensive care. 121 cases (14%) experienced a complication (including 70 cases of pneumonia and 2 cases of encephalitis). Four deaths attributable to measles were reported, all in immunocompromised patients. The median age of cases is 16.7 years. The 4 most affected age groups are children aged 1-4 (15%), adults aged 40 and over (14%), and young people aged 10-14 (12%) and 15-19 (12%). How contagious is measles? What is R0? Among the subjects targeted by vaccination (aged over one year and born since 1980), for whom vaccination status was known (n=620), 416 (67%) were unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated, 194 (31%) were vaccinated with two doses and 9 (1%) cases were vaccinated without the number of doses received being specified. 71 departments in France (70%) reported at least one case during the period, including 4 cases reported in the French overseas territories (Réunion). The five departments with the highest number of reported cases are: Nord (15%), Bouches-du-Rhône (6%), Aude (6%), Haute-Savoie (5%), and Isère (5%).