The United States has confirmed 5,182 measles infections in 2026 to date, marking the country’s largest yearly total in 35 years. Figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday show the count is more than twice the 2,289 cases registered during all of 2025 and is the highest since 1991.
Public-health authorities nationwide have also linked at least eight deaths to the outbreak, including fatalities among very young children.
The US declared measles eliminated in 2000 after vaccination programmes sharply reduced transmission. Cases have nevertheless risen in recent years as immunisation coverage has declined and distrust of public-health institutions has expanded.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent vaccine sceptic, has drawn criticism for contributing to that mistrust. He has repeatedly circulated false claims about measles vaccination and minimised the dangers posed by the illness.
Measles is an extremely infectious disease that can be prevented through vaccination. It typically produces fever, respiratory illness and a rash, but serious infections can cause pneumonia or brain inflammation, leaving lasting damage or resulting in death.
Before a measles vaccine became available in the early 1960s, the disease killed hundreds of US children each year.
While immunisation has dramatically curbed measles in many parts of the world, the virus still causes tens of thousands of deaths globally each year.
