Measles in Hawaii, 1848: When an Island Population Met a New Virus

Our earlier measles story began with King Kamehameha II and Queen Kamamalu in London.

This story follows measles home to Hawaii.

1848

Historical medical research places the arrival of measles in Hawaii in 1848, apparently from California, with early spread described in Hilo before the disease moved through the Islands.

Measles did not arrive in isolation. The 1848–1849 period included measles, whooping cough, influenza, and other illness.

Hawaii's historical statistics attribute approximately 10,000 deaths to the combined measles, whooping cough, and influenza epidemic period.

Why a new infection could be catastrophic

Island communities were connected by ships but had limited prior exposure to many introduced infections. When a highly contagious disease entered a susceptible population, it could move quickly.

Measles can cause pneumonia, dehydration, encephalitis, and death. Before vaccination, repeated epidemics were expected rather than exceptional.

The contrast with today

Today, measles prevention is built into routine MMR vaccination. Most families in Wahiawa will never personally see the kind of community-wide measles epidemic that shaped nineteenth-century Hawaii.

That distance is not evidence that the disease was harmless. It is evidence that our relationship with the disease changed.

— Nora Phillips, DNP, APRN Central Health | Wahiawa, Hawaii

Sources

State of Hawaii DBEDT — Historical Statistics of Hawaii, Table 2.9. https://files.hawaii.gov/dbedt/economic/data_reports/Historical-Statistics-of-Hawaii.pdf

Shulman ST, Shulman DL, Sims RH — History of measles in Hawaii. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19633516/

CDC — History of Measles. https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/history.html