The United States has recorded more than 5,000 measles cases in a single year for the first time in 35 years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday, in a resurgence that has now put the country’s measles-free status at risk.
The CDC counted 5,182 confirmed cases as of 5 November, up 330 in the latest weekly update and more than double the 2,289 cases recorded in all of 2025. The total is the highest annual figure since 1991, with cases reported in 45 states and Washington, D.C.
The toll is falling hardest on the unvaccinated. The CDC said 96 per cent of this year’s cases were among people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown, and 96 per cent of infections — 4,993 cases — were linked to outbreaks. Forty-three outbreaks have been reported so far this year. Hospitalisations linked to measles stood at 562, or 11 per cent of all reported cases. Adults aged 20 and over accounted for 2,132 cases, followed by 2,104 cases among those aged 5 to 19 and 908 cases in children under five.
The death toll is disputed. The CDC lists four measles-associated deaths in 2026, against three in all of 2025, but state health departments have reported at least eight deaths. Pennsylvania, the worst-hit state, reports six deaths and 1,487 cases this year. The CDC says it is working with state epidemiologists to settle on a standard definition for a measles death, and the two counts should not be treated as the same measure.
The figures carry a further consequence. Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, meaning the virus no longer spread on its own inside the country year-round. The Pan American Health Organization is due to review American transmission data on 10 November, and if it finds that one strain of the virus has circulated without a break for 12 months, that status will be lost.
Measles is highly contagious but preventable with the MMR vaccine, and health officials have repeatedly urged parents to make sure children are fully vaccinated. The CDC publishes updated counts weekly, so the national total is expected to keep rising while outbreaks continue. (File photo: a child receives an MMR vaccine at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, in 2021.)
Sources: Reuters — https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/us-measles-cases-rise-5182-cdc-says-2026-11-06/ ; Associated Press, via Zark News — https://zarknews.com/us-measles-cases-pass-5000-most-35-years-cdc/
