Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Reading newspaper headlines, I have been reflecting on what measles once was, how writers remembered it, how we briefly escaped it, and how we are now, quietly and dangerously, returning to it.
According to the Mayo Clinic, before the first measles vaccine in 1963, nearly all children in the U.S. got measles by age 15, and annual epidemics caused millions of infections (and hundreds of deaths) each year.
While statistics can tell us the scale, literary texts written in or about the 19th century remind us of the stakes.
A line in chapter six of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist tells us that “The oldest inhabitants recollected no period at which measles had been so prevalent, or so fatal to infant existence.”
Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind introduces us to Scarlett O’Hara’s first husband, Charles Hamilton, a character that triggers Scarlett’s early frustration and grief:
“Five weeks passed during which letters, shy, ecstatic, loving, came from Charles in South Carolina telling of his love, his plans for the future when the war was over, his desire to become a hero for her sake and his worship of his commander, Wade Hampton. In the seventh week, there came a telegram from Colonel Hampton himself, and then a letter, a kind, dignified letter of condolence. Charles was dead. The colonel would have wired earlier, but Charles, thinking his illness a trifling one, did not wish to have his family worried. The unfortunate boy had not only been cheated of the love he thought he had won but also of his high hopes of honor and glory on the field of battle. He had died ignominiously and swiftly of pneumonia, following measles, without ever having gotten any closer to the Yankees than the camp in South Carolina.”
The poets I studied as an undergraduate wrote about the measles the way that some of us wrote about Covid-19 in late March of 2020, reminding us of the concerns that gripped us then, including fear, isolation, uncertainty, waiting, and the fragility of the ordinary world.
Emily Dickinson wrote this in a letter to Abiah Root in September 1846: “I have been very well this summer… though many of my friends have had the measles. I have been almost a hermit… for there were so many cases of the disease that I felt it was best to stay within doors.”
A few years later, in May of 1851, Elizabeth Barrett Browning shared her fears in a letter to Henrietta Barrett: “The measles are all about us, and I am in a state of perpetual terror for the child… It is a treacherous disease, and one never knows where it will end, even when it seems to have passed away.”
For Barrett Browning, measles was a “perpetual terror.” But as the 20th century progressed, in the United States and in other countries, that terror was silenced by science. With the widespread adoption of the MMR vaccine, the United States was formally declared to have eliminated measles in 2000. We didn’t just eliminate the disease; we began to eliminate our memory of its cost.
For a generation of Americans, measles became something we encountered only in old novels and yellowed letters. We thought we had overcome this national challenge. We were wrong.
Consider these headlines, all from January 6, 2026, to see what the return of measles looks like in real time:
- South Carolina measles outbreak continues to grow into 2026, health officials say — WBTV (South Carolina)
- Measles vaccination rates in Colorado are lagging — Axios Denver/Colorado
- Additional Children Positive for Measles in North Carolina — North Carolina Dept. of Health and Human Services press release
- South Carolina measles outbreak grows in wake of holiday season — HealthBeat / news outlet report
- South Carolina Department of Public Health: DPH Reports 26 New Measles Cases in Upstate, Bringing Outbreak total to 211 — SC DPH Jan. 6 release
- US builds case to retain measles elimination status as infections mount — with outbreaks starting in Texas and spreading to states like Utah, Arizona, and South Carolina — Reuters
- Possible measles exposure linked to travel in Albuquerque — New Mexico Department of Health, January 6, 2026
This next one from late December also concerned me because my son sometimes flies through Newark to get back to college. Suddenly, the “perpetual terror” Barrett Browning described in 1851 feels less like a mere historical curiosity.
- “N.J. health officials warn of potential measles exposures at Newark Liberty Airport” — CBS New York (Dec 29, 2025).
If the poets wrote from a place of unavoidable fear, today’s headlines suggest a fear that is being actively invited back. Rather than an accident of nature, the return of measles in America resulted from the dismantling of the very scientific consensus that once saved us. Enter Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.:
- RFK Jr sparks alarm after backing vitamins to treat measles amid outbreak — The Guardian — Mar 4, 2025
- Top vaccine official resigns from FDA, criticizes RFK Jr. for promoting ‘misinformation and lies’ — AP News — Mar 29, 2025
- RFK Jr and health agency falsely claim MMR vaccine includes ‘aborted fetus debris’ — The Guardian — May 1, 2025
- US Health secretary Kennedy revives misleading claims of ‘fetal debris’ in measles shots — Reuters — May 2, 2025
- CDC Slashes Universal Vaccine Recommendations — Time — Jan 6, 2026
- US builds case to retain measles elimination status as infections mount — Reuters — Jan 6, 2026
- NYC health boss rips RFK Jr. for cutting back on childhood vaccinations, warns of ‘deadly consequences’ — New York Post — Jan 7, 2026
I’m a big fan of science and the work scientists have done to protect us from infectious diseases. It’s regrettable to see their work sabotaged by official government policies.
As gripping as these headlines are, I find myself turning again and again to those writers who can best personify epidemics. When institutions fail us, the consequences always upend individual lives.
I will close with the words of Roald Dahl, a short non-fiction piece he wrote in 1986:
“Olivia, my eldest daughter, caught measles when she was seven years old. As the illness took its usual course I can remember reading to her often in bed and not feeling particularly alarmed about it. Then one morning, when she was well on the road to recovery, I was sitting on her bed showing her how to fashion little animals out of coloured pipe-cleaners, and when it came to her turn to make one herself, I noticed that her fingers and her mind were not working together and she couldn’t do anything.
‘Are you feeling all right?’ I asked her.
‘I feel all sleepy,’ she said.
In an hour, she was unconscious. In twelve hours, she was dead.
The measles had turned into a terrible thing called measles encephalitis and there was nothing the doctors could do to save her. That was…in 1962, but even now, if a child with measles happens to develop the same deadly reaction from measles as Olivia did, there would still be nothing the doctors could do to help her. On the other hand, there is today something that parents can do to make sure that this sort of tragedy does not happen to a child of theirs. They can insist that their child is immunised against measles.
…I dedicated two of my books to Olivia, the first was ‘James and the Giant Peach’. That was when she was still alive. The second was ‘The BFG’, dedicated to her memory after she had died from measles. You will see her name at the beginning of each of these books. And I know how happy she would be if only she could know that her death had helped to save a good deal of illness and death among other children.”
Reading those old letters and novels, and then reading today’s headlines, I keep returning to the same uneasy realization: measles has returned. We once learned its costs. We once learned how to prevent them. And now, through carelessness and misinformation, we are forced to learn those lessons again.
As Roald Dahl reminds us, these are lessons we cannot afford to fail.
There will be no rain tonight, so plan to join me outdoors for the pub quiz at 2001 2nd Street in Davis. I invite you to join the regulars and irregulars for the social event of the week featuring 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about, this week with special questions connected to the life and hobbies of Dr. Andy. Today’s pub quiz comes in at 948 words, still smaller than the number of miles I walked in 2025.
In addition to topics raised above and below, expect questions tonight on the following: nets, heroes, toxicology, presidents, conductors, MVPs, storms, winds, joyful moments, common words, slim daggers, place names, median readers, photography subjects in 1846, Palo Alto rests, Paul Simon, dreams, colors, birds, American generals, moons, parades, euros, French cuisine, frontrunners, best-sellers, romance, new leaders, weeds, jobs, Oscars, new jobs, pop charts, U.S. states, geography, current events, and Shakespeare.
For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.
Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. We have over 90 Patreon members now, including the new paid subscribers Christine, Bobby, Esther, James, Damian, Jim, and Meebles! I should write a question for Bobby. Thanks also to new subscribers Prescott, Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens. Hello to Bill and to Jude’s dad. Thanks in particular to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. Also, I sometimes remember to add an extra hint on Patreon. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine!
I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, and birthday girl Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion.
Best,
Dr. Andy
P.S. Trivia from the final pub quiz of 2025, with questions about 2025:
- In 2025, Robert Provost was elected to a new office. What is his job?
- In 2025, Beyoncé finally won the Grammy Award for best album of the year. Name the album.
- What 2024 film with a one-word title won the most Oscars in March of this year, with five?