The United States has recorded measles deaths in 2026 amid a surge of 5,182 confirmed cases according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, marking the country’s most severe outbreak in 35 years.
This resurgence threatens the nation’s measles-elimination status, which was first achieved in 2000 largely as a result of widespread vaccination.
State health authorities have reported at least eight measles-related deaths, including among very young children and a baby in the state of Wisconsin, who represents the first measles death in that state since the 1990s. The nationwide total of 5,182 confirmed cases is more than double the 2,289 cases recorded throughout 2025.
Measles elimination ends when one strain spreads nonstop for a year. Three chains of measles transmission traced back to Texas have been going for over a year. Save and send to a parent: https://t.co/gbtkh8YHaQ Read & subscribe for free: https://t.co/yjIDWlTmf2 pic.twitter.com/oFPVYqvXJ1
The highly contagious disease causes fever, respiratory symptoms and a characteristic skin rash, and can lead to complications such as pneumonia and inflammation of the brain.
Dr. Brian Curtis, vice president and chief medical officer with OSF HealthCare, said “measles is probably the most contagious virus known.” He added that “it’s airborne, so you come in the room, and you have measles; it will actually stay in the air for 2 hours.” Curtis also explained that “it can get into the ventilation ducts and transmit to other rooms, and then it will stay on surfaces for 2 hours, so the person can simply come through the room, and then for 2 hours, that room is infected.” Describing the progression, Curtis stated, “Initially, there is just kind of generalized malaise and fatigue and a little bit of fever, and then it will progress into that rash that starts in the head and goes out to the body,” adding that “The rash, and then sometimes people get white spots inside the cheeks of their mouth.”
Experts attribute the comeback to declining vaccination rates and growing public distrust of health authorities. Paediatric infectious disease specialist Adam Ratner told AFP that such fatalities were “tragic, and that is completely preventable”.
Ratner also criticized US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., stating, “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. does not believe that measles is a big problem and does not want to believe that there are deaths from measles.” Ratner added, “The burden of these diseases will fall on children, who are not the ones who are making these decisions.”
To protect against the virus, health officials recommend the MMR vaccine. While two doses are up to 97% effective according to the CDC, public health officials note that a population vaccination rate of about 95% is needed to prevent the virus from finding enough susceptible people to keep spreading.
Curtis similarly recommended vaccination, noting that “One dose of the vaccine is 93% effective, the second dose is 95% effective, but the problem with measles is, if a measles person walks into a room, it will affect 90% of the unvaccinated people in that room.” Curtis added, “The measles is tough,” and stated, “The only way to protect is to A-not get exposed, and B- vaccinate the population, and so really, we need the population to be about 95% vaccinated.” He recommended everyone, including parents, have a vaccine conversation with their own doctor.
More on Centers for Disease Control
“. experts convening on Tuesday to decide whether the United States should lose its official designation as a nation that has eliminated measles.”@nytimes https://t.co/YAozbJwKeU pic.twitter.com/PtWLnjXHqQ
PAHO's commission is meeting this week on whether the US keeps its measles elimination status. The US had 85 cases the year it eliminated measles in 2000. This year it's past 5,100. It may come down to sequencing, whether outbreaks across states trace to one lineage for 12… pic.twitter.com/R9lZIsJTmX
My comments with @ABC @MaryKekatos about meetings this week to examine America’s measles elimination statushttps://t.co/QxvE5wulz0
Worth a look
