Confirmed U.S. measles cases have reached 5,182 for 2026, surpassing 5,000 for the first time since 1991 as a regional health commission prepares to decide whether the country has lost its measles elimination status.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported the total on November 5, marking the 13th straight week of triple-digit increases. The tally more than doubles the 2,289 confirmed cases recorded in all of 2025.
Children and teenagers account for about 59 percent of confirmed cases, according to federal data. Kids under five make up 18 percent, while those between ages five and 19 account for 41 percent. Unvaccinated individuals or those with unknown vaccination status represent 96 percent of the total.
In addition, 2 percent of cases are among individuals who received one dose of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, and another 2 percent are among those who received the recommended two doses. International visitors account for 18 cases.
Geographically, cases have been confirmed across 45 states and Washington, D.C., with only five states—Arkansas, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada, and New Hampshire—reporting no cases this year. Pennsylvania remains the hardest-hit state, reporting 1,487 cases across 45 counties and six deaths reported by the state’s Department of Health.
Wisconsin has reported 431 cases, marking a 35-year high for the state. Ohio has recorded 310 cases, with Ashtabula, Geauga, and Wayne counties accounting for roughly half of the statewide total. Indiana’s case count has reached 134, led by LaGrange County with 31 infections. New York’s case count has risen to 210.
While state health departments have reported eight total measles-associated deaths—six in Pennsylvania, one in New York, and one in Wisconsin—the CDC has confirmed four deaths nationally and states that the figure is subject to change. The federal count has been central to a dispute involving Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr regarding how measles deaths are classified.
Pennsylvania records a measles-associated death when an infected individual dies within 30 days of developing symptoms without an unrelated cause. Wisconsin’s fatality involved an infant, marking the state’s first measles death since 1990, while New York’s fatality involved a child in the upstate region, representing the state’s first measles-related death in over three decades.
As cases accelerate, an independent expert panel appointed by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is holding a closed-door review in Washington from November 10 to 13 to evaluate whether continuous virus transmission for 12 months has stripped the United States of its measles elimination status. The evaluation period began with the West Texas outbreak on January 20, 2025. Canada lost its elimination status last year.
Whether or not you connect the dots on these particular epidemics, to me, means less than the fact that we’ve just got so much widespread transmission in different parts of the U.S.,
ABC News was informed by Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.
Data from federal health agencies indicate that kindergarten MMR vaccination coverage dropped from 95.2 percent in the 2019-2020 school year to 92.4 percent during the 2025-2026 school year, putting approximately 280,000 children in jeopardy. Two doses of the MMR vaccine remain 97 percent effective at preventing measles, while one dose is 93 percent effective, according to public health officials.
Annually in the United States, nearly all children contracted measles by age 15 during the decade prior to the vaccine’s availability, causing 3 to 4 million illnesses, roughly 48,000 hospitalizations, and 400 to 500 deaths, as pointed out by Paul Offit, an attending physician in the division of infectious diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and director of the Vaccine Education Center.
Claudia Hoyen, the director of pediatric infection control at University Hospitals’ Rainbow Babies Children’s, emphasized the severity of the illness, noting that measles can lead to dangerous long-term complications such as subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), a rare and fatal degenerative disease that can emerge seven to 15 years after an initial infection.
Hoyen also noted that receiving the MMR vaccine within the first three days of contracting measles can help prevent infection or reduce illness severity, and recommended that older adults consult healthcare providers if they have questions regarding their immunity levels.
The only way to prevent infections when there is an ongoing national outbreak at levels that we haven’t seen in decades is to get the MMR vaccine,
Dr. Andrew Handel, a pediatric infectious diseases physician at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, told ABC11 News.
It is safe, it is effective, and it’s the best thing we can do again to stop this outbreak and get the country back to the rates of measles infections that we’d previously seen.
Readers with questions regarding vaccination status, immunity, or potential symptoms should consult qualified healthcare professionals for personalized guidance.
Earlier coverage: US measles cases reach 35-year high, CDC says
