Key points

  • The CDC has counted 5,182 confirmed measles cases in the United States in 2026 as of 5 November, the highest annual total since 1991 — more than double the 2,289 cases reported in all of 2025.
  • Almost all of them — 4,993 cases, or 96% — are linked to outbreaks, and 43 new outbreaks have been reported this year across 47 jurisdictions.
  • Children and teenagers make up about 59% of cases: under-5s account for 18% and 5- to 19-year-olds for 41%.
  • The death toll is disputed: the CDC counts four deaths in 2026, while state health officials have reported at least eight. Pennsylvania, the hardest-hit state, has reported six deaths and 1,487 cases.
  • Kindergarten MMR vaccination coverage has fallen from 95.2% in the 2019–2020 school year to 92.4% in 2025–2026, leaving about 280,000 kindergartners at risk, the CDC says.

Measles cases in the United States have reached their highest annual total in 35 years, with 5,182 confirmed cases reported so far in 2026, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday. The figure is more than double the 2,289 cases recorded in all of 2025, and the highest the CDC has reported since 1991. Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000.

The numbers

Key figures
MeasureFigureSource
Confirmed measles cases, 2026 (as of 5 November)5,182CDC
Confirmed measles cases, 2025 (full year)2,289CDC
Confirmed measles cases, 2024285CDC
Outbreak-associated cases, 20264,993 (96% of cases)CDC
New outbreaks reported in 202643CDC
Jurisdictions reporting cases47, plus 18 cases among international visitorsCDC
Kindergarten MMR coverage, 2019–202095.2%CDC
Kindergarten MMR coverage, 2025–202692.4%CDC
Deaths counted by the CDC, 20264CDC
Deaths reported by state health officialsAt least 8AFP, citing state officials
Cases in Pennsylvania1,487, with 6 deathsPennsylvania Department of Health, via Al Jazeera

The CDC's data cover confirmed cases reported to it by noon on Thursday 5 November, and the agency says its counts lag behind state reporting because states publish on their own schedules. For comparison, 48 outbreaks were reported in 2025, when 90% of cases were outbreak-associated, and 16 outbreaks in 2024.

A single measles virus particle seen through a transmission electron microscope
A single measles virus particle seen through a transmission electron microscope. The virus is 100–200 nanometres across. Photo: Cynthia S. Goldsmith / CDC / Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Source file

Children make up most of the cases

Children and teenagers account for about 59% of confirmed cases, the CDC's data show: children under five make up 18% of cases and 5- to 19-year-olds account for 41%. Measles spreads through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes, the CDC says, and a person can catch it simply by being in a room where an infected person has been.

Two doses of the MMR vaccine are 97% effective at preventing measles, and one dose is 93% effective, according to the CDC. But vaccination coverage among US kindergarteners has fallen from 95.2% in the 2019–2020 school year to 92.4% in 2025–2026, leaving about 280,000 kindergartners at risk, the CDC says. Coverage varies widely between communities, the agency says, and when measles reaches a community with low vaccination rates it can spread quickly. Measles activity is also increasing globally, the CDC says, which raises the chance of an unvaccinated traveller bringing the virus back into the United States.

Skin of a patient three days into a measles rash
Skin of a patient three days into a measles rash. File photo. Photo: CDC / Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Source file

A dispute over the death toll

How many people measles has killed this year depends on who is counting. The CDC's data list four deaths in 2026, a figure the agency notes is subject to change as reviews are completed. State health officials, however, have reported at least eight measles-related deaths, including among very young children, the AFP news agency reported.

The gap is widest in Pennsylvania, the state hardest hit by the outbreak, where the Department of Health has reported six deaths and 1,487 cases, Al Jazeera reported. Pennsylvania counts a death as measles-associated when a person with confirmed measles dies within 30 days of developing symptoms, unless the death resulted from an unrelated event. In August, the state reported that two unvaccinated people had died of measles. The CDC initially included those deaths in its national tally but later removed them, after US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr questioned whether measles had caused or contributed to the deaths, Al Jazeera reported.

The CDC says it is working with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists to develop a standardised definition for deaths due to measles, so that deaths are classified and reported consistently across jurisdictions. Epidemiologists told Al Jazeera that counting measles-associated deaths has long been the standard approach used by the World Health Organization and the CDC.

What happens next

The CDC publishes its national measles counts weekly, using cases reported to it by noon on Thursdays, so the 5,182 figure will be updated as states report more cases — and state totals already run ahead of the federal count, USA Today reported. The agency says its figures cover only confirmed cases notified to it, and that states hold the most up-to-date information about cases and outbreaks in their own jurisdictions. Europe Unfolded will report the next CDC update when it is published.

Updates & corrections

Published 7 November 2026.

Sources

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