United States measles cases reach 4,410 this year
The CDC counts 4,410 confirmed measles cases in the United States as of October 15, already above the 2,289 cases reported in all of 2025.
AI-narrated. Written with AI and checked against primary sources. Our standards
AI-narrated. Written with AI and checked against primary sources. Our standards
The story
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC, is the nation's public health agency. It counts 4,410 confirmed measles cases in the United States in 2026.
As of October 15, 47 jurisdictions reported 4,392 cases. International visitors accounted for 18 more.
The CDC says 96 percent of cases were unvaccinated or of unknown vaccination status.
The CDC says 96 percent of those cases are linked to outbreaks. An outbreak means 3 or more related cases.
The CDC has reported 42 outbreaks in 2026. The 2026 total is 4,410 cases.
All of 2025 had 2,289, so 2026 is already nearly double. In 2025, 90 percent of cases were outbreak-linked.
This year, that share is 96 percent. Children under 5 made up 17 percent of cases.
That is 742 children. The CDC says 96 percent of cases were unvaccinated or of unknown vaccination status.
The CDC has reported 2 deaths. Hospital care followed in 451 cases, 10 percent of the total.
Coverage with the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, called MMR, decreased to 92.4 percent among kindergartners. That is the 2025 to 2026 school year.
About 280,000 kindergartners are at risk, the CDC says. The CDC says 2 doses of MMR are 97 percent effective.
One dose is 93 percent effective. Why it matters: measles was declared eliminated here in 2000, and the 2026 count has already passed all of 2025.
We explain the news. We do not give medical advice.
Counts come from the CDC cases page, and vaccine figures from its vaccination page. This total stops at October 15.
Sources
The primary documents behind this story, with direct links to each one.
Image and footage credits: Lead image: CDC · Public domain, U.S. Government work (CDC: "Most of the information on the CDC ... websites ... is in the public domain")
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