
Measles: Historical Highlights
02/28/24 • 45 min
5 Listeners
Though measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. decades ago, outbreaks do still happen here, and in other places it’s much more common. Before vaccines were widely available, it killed an estimated 2.6 million people worldwide each year.
Research:
- "Measles cases rising alarmingly across Europe: WHO." IANS, 24 Jan. 2024, p. NA. Gale OneFile: Health and Medicine, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A780229341/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=624cac48. Accessed 13 Feb. 2024.
- "The Medical Influence of Rhazes." Science and Its Times, edited by Neil Schlager and Josh Lauer, vol. 2, Gale, 2001. Gale In Context: World History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CV2643450171/WHIC?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-WHIC&xid=5ed3d18a. Accessed 13 Feb. 2024.
- Associated Press. “Measles deaths worldwide jumped 40% last year, health agencies say.” 11/16/2023. https://apnews.com/article/measles-epidemic-children-who-cdc-bb62da7Measles%20deaths%20worldwide%20jumped%2040%%20last%20year,%20health%20agencies%20say
- Berche, Patrick. “History of measles.” La Presse Médicale. Volume 51, Issue 3, September 2022. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0755498222000422
- Carson-DeWitt, Rosalyn, MD, et al. "Measles." The Gale Encyclopedia of Public Health, edited by Brigham Narins, 2nd ed., vol. 2, Gale, 2020, pp. 675-680. Gale In Context: Environmental Studies, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX7947900178/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=5cb0c749. Accessed 13 Feb. 2024.
- Centers for Disease Control. “Measles History.” https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/history.html
- Conis E. Measles and the Modern History of Vaccination. Public Health Reports. 2019;134(2):118-125. doi:10.1177/0033354919826558
- Düx A, Lequime S, Patrono LV, Vrancken B, Boral S, Gogarten JF, Hilbig A, Horst D, Merkel K, Prepoint B, Santibanez S, Schlotterbeck J, Suchard MA, Ulrich M, Widulin N, Mankertz A, Leendertz FH, Harper K, Schnalke T, Lemey P, Calvignac-Spencer S. Measles virus and rinderpest virus divergence dated to the sixth century BCE. Science. 2020 Jun 19;368(6497):1367-1370. doi: 10.1126/science.aba9411. PMID: 32554594; PMCID: PMC7713999.
- Home, Francis. “Medical facts and experiments.” London, 1759. https://archive.org/details/b30785558/
- Manley, Jennifer. “Measles and Ancient Plagues: A Note on New Scientific Evidence.” Classical World, Volume 107, Number 3, Spring 2014, pp. 393-397. https://doi.org/10.1353/clw.2014.0001
- Panum, Peter Ludwig. “Observations made during the epidemic of measles on the Faroe Islands in the year 1846.” Gerstein - University of Toronto. https://archive.org/details/observationsmade00panuuoft
- Papania MJ, Wallace GS, Rota PA, et al. Elimination of Endemic Measles, Rubella, and Congenital Rubella Syndrome From the Western Hemisphere: The US Experience. JAMA Pediatr. 2014;168(2):148–155. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.4342
- Patel, Minal K. et al. “Progress Toward Regional Measles Elimination — Worldwide, 2000–2019.” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, November 13, 2020, Vol. 69, No. 45 (November 13, 2020). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26967781
- Rāzī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā. “A treatise on the small-pox and measles.” Translated by William Alexander Greenhill. 1848. https://archive.org/details/39002086344042.med.yale.edu/mode/1up
- Sydenham, Thomas. “The works of Thomas Sydenham, M.D.” London, 1848. https://archive.org/details/b33098682_0002
- The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. “Measles.” History of Vaccines. https://historyofvaccines.org/history/measles/timeline
- West, Katherine. "THE RETURN OF MEASLES: With modern vaccine skepticism, the once-eliminated disease is surging in the U.S." EMS World, vol. 48, no. 6, June 2019, pp. 44+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A711878059/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=8d0bb2cb. Accessed 13 Feb. 2024.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Though measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. decades ago, outbreaks do still happen here, and in other places it’s much more common. Before vaccines were widely available, it killed an estimated 2.6 million people worldwide each year.
Research:
- "Measles cases rising alarmingly across Europe: WHO." IANS, 24 Jan. 2024, p. NA. Gale OneFile: Health and Medicine, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A780229341/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=624cac48. Accessed 13 Feb. 2024.
- "The Medical Influence of Rhazes." Science and Its Times, edited by Neil Schlager and Josh Lauer, vol. 2, Gale, 2001. Gale In Context: World History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CV2643450171/WHIC?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-WHIC&xid=5ed3d18a. Accessed 13 Feb. 2024.
- Associated Press. “Measles deaths worldwide jumped 40% last year, health agencies say.” 11/16/2023. https://apnews.com/article/measles-epidemic-children-who-cdc-bb62da7Measles%20deaths%20worldwide%20jumped%2040%%20last%20year,%20health%20agencies%20say
- Berche, Patrick. “History of measles.” La Presse Médicale. Volume 51, Issue 3, September 2022. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0755498222000422
- Carson-DeWitt, Rosalyn, MD, et al. "Measles." The Gale Encyclopedia of Public Health, edited by Brigham Narins, 2nd ed., vol. 2, Gale, 2020, pp. 675-680. Gale In Context: Environmental Studies, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX7947900178/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=5cb0c749. Accessed 13 Feb. 2024.
- Centers for Disease Control. “Measles History.” https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/history.html
- Conis E. Measles and the Modern History of Vaccination. Public Health Reports. 2019;134(2):118-125. doi:10.1177/0033354919826558
- Düx A, Lequime S, Patrono LV, Vrancken B, Boral S, Gogarten JF, Hilbig A, Horst D, Merkel K, Prepoint B, Santibanez S, Schlotterbeck J, Suchard MA, Ulrich M, Widulin N, Mankertz A, Leendertz FH, Harper K, Schnalke T, Lemey P, Calvignac-Spencer S. Measles virus and rinderpest virus divergence dated to the sixth century BCE. Science. 2020 Jun 19;368(6497):1367-1370. doi: 10.1126/science.aba9411. PMID: 32554594; PMCID: PMC7713999.
- Home, Francis. “Medical facts and experiments.” London, 1759. https://archive.org/details/b30785558/
- Manley, Jennifer. “Measles and Ancient Plagues: A Note on New Scientific Evidence.” Classical World, Volume 107, Number 3, Spring 2014, pp. 393-397. https://doi.org/10.1353/clw.2014.0001
- Panum, Peter Ludwig. “Observations made during the epidemic of measles on the Faroe Islands in the year 1846.” Gerstein - University of Toronto. https://archive.org/details/observationsmade00panuuoft
- Papania MJ, Wallace GS, Rota PA, et al. Elimination of Endemic Measles, Rubella, and Congenital Rubella Syndrome From the Western Hemisphere: The US Experience. JAMA Pediatr. 2014;168(2):148–155. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.4342
- Patel, Minal K. et al. “Progress Toward Regional Measles Elimination — Worldwide, 2000–2019.” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, November 13, 2020, Vol. 69, No. 45 (November 13, 2020). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26967781
- Rāzī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā. “A treatise on the small-pox and measles.” Translated by William Alexander Greenhill. 1848. https://archive.org/details/39002086344042.med.yale.edu/mode/1up
- Sydenham, Thomas. “The works of Thomas Sydenham, M.D.” London, 1848. https://archive.org/details/b33098682_0002
- The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. “Measles.” History of Vaccines. https://historyofvaccines.org/history/measles/timeline
- West, Katherine. "THE RETURN OF MEASLES: With modern vaccine skepticism, the once-eliminated disease is surging in the U.S." EMS World, vol. 48, no. 6, June 2019, pp. 44+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A711878059/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=8d0bb2cb. Accessed 13 Feb. 2024.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Previous Episode

'Doctress' Rebecca Crumpler
Rebecca Crumpler was the first Black woman in the United States to earn a medical degree. She also wrote one of the first, if not the first, medical texts by a Black person in the United States.
Research:
- Allen, Patrick S. “‘We must attack the system’: The Print Practice of Black ‘Doctresses’.” Arizona Quarterly: A Journal of American Literature, Culture, and Theory, Volume 74, Number 4, Winter 2018. https://doi.org/10.1353/arq.2018.0023
- Boston African American National Historic Site. “Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler.” National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/people/dr-rebecca-lee-crumpler.htm
- The Boston Globe. “Boston’s Oldest Pupil.” 4/3/1898.
- Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Rebecca Lee Crumpler". Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Jan. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rebecca-Lee-Crumpler. Accessed 7 February 2024.
- Cazalet, Sylvain. “New England Female Medical College & New England Hospital for Women and Children.” http://www.homeoint.org/cazalet/histo/newengland.htm
- “The Colored People’s Memorial.” The News Journal. 17 Mar 1874.
- Crumpler, Rebecca. “A Book of Medical Discourses: In Two Parts.” Boston : Cashman, Keating, printers. 1883. https://archive.org/details/67521160R.nlm.nih.gov/mode/2up
- Granshaw, Michelle. “Georgia E.L. Patton.” Black Past. 12/19/2009. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/patton-georgia-e-l-1864-1900/
- Gregory, Samuel. “Doctor or Doctress?” Boston, 1868. https://digirepo.nlm.nih.gov/ext/dw/101183088/PDF/101183088.pdf
- Herbison, Matt. “Is that Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler? Misidentification, copyright, and pesky historical details.” Drexel University Legacy Center. 6/2013. https://drexel.edu/legacy-center/blog/overview/2013/june/is-that-dr-rebecca-lee-crumpler-misidentification-copyright-and-pesky-historical-details/
- Herwick, Edgar B. III. “The 'Doctresses Of Medicine': The World's 1st Female Medical School Was Established In Boston.” WGBH. 11/4/2016. https://www.wgbh.org/lifestyle/2016-11-04/the-doctresses-of-medicine-the-worlds-1st-female-medical-school-was-established-in-boston
- Janee, Dominique et al. “The U.S.’s First Black Female Physician Cared for Patients from Cradle to Grave.” Scientific American. 11/2/2023. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/americas-first-black-female-physician-cared-for-patients-from-cradle-to-grave/
- Klass, Perri. “‘To Mitigate the Afflictions of the Human Race’ — The Legacy of Dr. Rebecca Crumpler.” New England Journal of Medicine. 4/1/2021. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2032451
- Laskowski, Amy. “Trailblazing BU Alum Gets a Gravestone 125 Years after Her Death.” Bostonia. 8/7/2020. https://www.bu.edu/articles/2020/rebecca-lee-crumpler-first-black-female-physician-gets-gravestone-130-after-death/
- Markel, Howard. “Celebrating Rebecca Lee Crumpler, first African-American woman physician.” PBS NewsHour. 3/9/2016. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/celebrating-rebecca-lee-crumpler-first-african-american-physician
- "Rebecca Lee Crumpler." Contemporary Black Biography, vol. 89, Gale, 2011. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1606005213/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=0b5b3c23. Accessed 7 Feb. 2024.
- Sconyers, Jake. “Dr. Rebecca Crumpler, Forgotten No Longer (episode 200).” HUB History. 8/30/2020. https://www.hubhistory.com/episodes/dr-rebecca-crumpler-forgotten-no-longer-episode-200/
- "SETS IN COLORED SOCIETY.: MRS JOHN LEWIS IS THE MRS JACK GARDNER OF HER PEOPLE--MISS WASHINGTON A LEADER IN ARTISTIC CIRCLES--MEN AND WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL WALKS--THE PROMISE OF A POET." Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922), Jul 22 1894, p. 29. ProQuest. Web. 8 Feb. 2024 .
- Shmerler, Cindy. “Overlooked No More: Rebecca Lee Crumpler, Who Battled Prejudice in Medicine.” New York Times. 7/16/2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/16/obituaries/rebecca-lee-crumpler-overlooked.html
- Skinner, Carolyn. “Women Physicians and Professional Ethos in Nineteenth-Century America.” Southern Illinois University Press, 2014. Project MUSE. muse.jhu.edu/book/28490
- Spring, Kelly A. “Mary Eliza Mahoney.” National Women’s History Museum. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/mary-mahoney
- Tracey, Liz. “The ‘Doctress’ Was In: Rebecca Lee Crumpler.” JSTOR Daily. 3/9/2020. https://daily.jstor.org/the-doctress-was-in-rebecca-lee-crumpler/
- Wells, Susan. “Out of the Dead House: Nineteenth-Century Women Physicians and the Writing of Medicine.” University of Wisconsin Press, 2012. Project MUSE. muse.jhu.edu/book/16736
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Next Episode

Behind the Scenes Minis: Source Chasing and Measles Shots
Tracy mentions tracking down sources for quotes about Rebecca Crumpler during research. She and Holly also discuss measles vaccine protocols.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Stuff You Missed in History Class - Measles: Historical Highlights
Transcript
Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2I'm Tracy V.
Speaker 1Wilson and I'm Holly Frye.
Speaker 2Right after I got back from that trip to Philadelphia to see that Marine Laura sign exhibit, there were some headlines about a measles out
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