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Volume 32, Number 9—September 2026

Dispatch

Genomic and Epidemiologic Insights into Ongoing Measles Outbreak, Israel, 2025–2026

Efrat Bucris1, Neta S. Zuckerman1, Tal Levin, Yara Kanaaneh, Oran Erster, Victoria Indenbaum, Keren Friedman, Danit Sofer, Eli Schwartz, Elena Chernin, Or Kriger, Rana Shibli, Sharon Elroi Prais, Zohar Mor, Nitza Abramson, Michal Savion, Naama Nuss, Ady Cohen Golan, Eva Avramovich, Dror Yakir, Liora Guy David, Efrat Rorman, Yaniv LustigComments to Author , and National Measles Working Group,2
Author affiliation: Central Virology Laboratory, Public Health Services, Ministry of Health and Sheba Medical Center, Ramat-Gan, Israel (E. Bucris, N.S. Zuckerman, T. Levin, Y. Kanaaneh, O. Erster, V. Indenbaum, K. Friedman, D. Sofer, Y. Lustig); Gray Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel (N.S. Zuckerman, Y. Lustig); The Center for Geographic Medicine and Tropical Diseases, The Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel (E. Schwartz); Ministry of Health Division of Epidemiology, Jerusalem, Israel (E. Chernin, O. Kriger, R. Shibli, S.E. Prais); Health Intelligence, Ministry of Health, Jerusalem (S.E. Prais, D. Yakir, L.G. David); Program for Public Health, Ashkelon Academic College, Ashkelon, Israel (Z. Mor); Jerusalem Department of Health, Ministry of Health, Jerusalem (Z. Mor, N. Abramson); Tel Aviv Department of Health, Ministry of Health, Tel-Aviv (M. Savion, N. Nuss); Central District Health Bureau, Ramla, Israel (A.C. Golan, E. Avramovich); Ministry of Health Department of Laboratories, Jerusalem (E. Rorman)

Main Article

Figure 1

Phylogenetic analysis from investigation of genomic and epidemiologic insights into ongoing measles outbreak, Israel, 2025–2026. Phylogenetic tree including 132 sequences from Israel collected during April 2025–February 2026 and 29 global sequences from 2020–2025 available in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (Appendix) Tree was constructed using the Nextrain Augur pipeline under the generalized time reversible substitution model, and visualized with Auspice (10). A) Time-resolved phylogenetic tree including Israel and global sequences. B) Divergence tree highlighting the Israel clusters and indicating the district of origin for each sample; branch lengths and the x-axis represent genetic divergence, whereas numbers along branches indicate inferred nucleotide substitutions relative to the parental node. Asterisks (*) denote cases with documented travel around the time of measles identification; country flags indicate the reported travel destination when known. Plus signs (+) denote fatal cases in children. Red arrow denotes the epidemiologically linked case related to the initial importation from Belgium.

Figure 1. Phylogenetic analysis from investigation of genomic and epidemiologic insights into ongoing measles outbreak, Israel, 2025–2026. Phylogenetic tree including 132 sequences from Israel collected during April 2025–February 2026 and 29 global sequences from 2020–2025 available in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (Appendix) Tree was constructed using the Nextrain Augur pipeline under the generalized time reversible substitution model, and visualized with Auspice (10). A) Time-resolved phylogenetic tree including Israel and global sequences. B) Divergence tree highlighting the Israel clusters and indicating the district of origin for each sample; branch lengths and the x-axis represent genetic divergence, whereas numbers along branches indicate inferred nucleotide substitutions relative to the parental node. Asterisks (*) denote cases with documented travel around the time of measles identification; country flags indicate the reported travel destination when known. Plus signs (+) denote fatal cases in children. Red arrow denotes the epidemiologically linked case related to the initial importation from Belgium.

Main Article

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1These authors contributed equally to this manuscript.

2Group members are listed at the end of the article.

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