U.S. measles cases hit 35-year high

The United States has recorded 2,318 measles cases in the first seven months of the year, surpassing last year’s total and reaching the highest level in 35 years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday.

The new count has already topped the 2,289 cases logged the previous year, with five months still remaining. The surge has unfolded as childhood vaccination rates have fallen, leaving pockets of the country vulnerable to one of the world’s most contagious diseases. The CDC says 93% of infected people are unvaccinated.

“We have joined the rank of countries where vaccination is not reaching the levels needed to protect all of our children against some of the most contagious diseases,” said Dr. Richard Besser, a pediatrician and president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Besser called measles “the canary in the coal mine,” warning that communities with low vaccination rates are also vulnerable to “whooping cough, meningitis, chicken pox and other diseases that are readily controllable with vaccines.”

The U.S. eliminated local measles spread in 2000, but the current wave has raised questions about whether the country can maintain that status. The Pan American Health Organization is expected to make a decision in November. CBS News, citing a CDC scientist familiar with an internal report, reported that the U.S. no longer meets a main criterion for elimination because Utah’s outbreak has lasted longer than a year, beginning in June 2025.

The outbreaks began building in January 2025, including in West Texas, where a doctor at Permian Regional Medical Center in Andrews treated a child with dehydration and shortness of breath. The child’s mother told him classes at a small private school had been canceled because so many children were sick.

“I knew at that point that the official case count was only capturing a fraction of what was already spreading in the community,” said Dr. Richard Eby, a family medicine doctor. “Most people did not get tested unless they were very sick.”

The West Texas outbreak grew to 762 cases and included the first measles deaths in the U.S. in more than a decade, among them two young girls. CBS News reported that nearly 400 people have been hospitalized with measles in the U.S. this year and last, three people have died, and at least three suffered brain swelling with lingering symptoms.

Major outbreaks have also hit South Carolina and Utah. South Carolina health authorities have recorded 997 cases in the Upstate region, though Al Jazeera reported that officials say the figure is likely an undercount. Utah’s outbreak has spread statewide, including to the Salt Lake City area, with more than 700 infections to date and 514 cases diagnosed this year, according to the state Health Department.

“Measles spreads a lot more rapidly and more efficiently than Covid ever could, and that was the scariest part,” said Dr. Stuart Simko, a pediatrician at Prisma Health in Greer, South Carolina. He described sick children as having “the flu on steroids,” with rashes, fevers of 104 or 105 degrees and severe fatigue.

New outbreaks are now appearing in Arizona, Delaware and Wyoming. Pennsylvania has reported 132 cases, including 27 in the past week, and adults have made up a large share of infections there. Virginia has logged 177 cases, though no new cases have been reported since July 4.

Public health officials say vaccination remains central to stopping transmission. The CDC says 92.5% of children receive measles vaccines, while about 95% of a population must be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity.

“It’s really critical, not only for individual people, but for communities, to have high vaccination coverage,” Dr. Varun Shetty, chief epidemiologist for Texas, told The Associated Press.