The U.S. just surpassed a grim measles milestone

By Lauren J. Young edited by Claire Cameron

The U.S. has officially surpassed 1,000 cases of measles in 2026. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest disease tally reveals that, as of February 26, 1,136 people have confirmed measles infections. What that means is that, in just two months, the national total is already nearing half of all the 2,281 confirmed cases reported in 2025.

Measles is a vaccine-preventable viral disease that is both extremely contagious and potentially deadly. The U.S. was declared measles-free in 2000, but experts say that achievement is all but certain to be reversed. The rate of infections this year is accelerating at a much faster pace than even during the outbreak that began in West Texas in 2025. The spike has alarmed public health experts, many of whom blame the disease’s resurgence on declining rates of vaccination against measles.

“Hitting 1,000 [cases] in February is unprecedented, but it’s not because there’s something new about the virus or disease like when there’s new strains of flu. It’s unprecedented because of how preventable it is,” says Amy Winter, a demographer and epidemiologist at the College of Public Health at the University of Georgia. “This is 100 percent a reflection of the recent declines in vaccination rates.”

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The CDC’s numbers are likely an undercount, and there are likely many more cases in the U.S. going undetected or unreported. Most of the confirmed cases—90 percent—are linked to upsurges across more than a dozen states, with a relentless outbreak in South Carolina fueling the majority of infections this year. On February 27 South Carolina’s public health department reported 985 total cases since the fall of 2025; 919 of those cases were in people who did not receive the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

Last year 11 percent of people who caught measles were hospitalized. The disease can cause an itchy rash, fever, severe brain inflammation and death. Two children and one adult died from infection last year—all three individuals were unvaccinated.

“When you’re vaccinated, it’s not only helping your own family or children, but it’s also helping your community,” says Walter Orenstein, an epidemiologist and a professor emeritus at the Emory University School of Medicine.

The MMR vaccine is highly protective against measles—the shot offers people up to 97 percent protection for life after they receive its two recommended doses. But because measles is so contagious, communities need high levels of herd immunity—which means that at least 95 percent of the population needs immunity from vaccination or prior infection to prevent the disease from spreading. In particular, babies younger than 12 months of age and people who are immunocompromised or have a medical condition that prevents them from receiving the vaccine benefit from high herd immunity, Orenstein explains.

“A failure to vaccinate not only puts those children or persons at risk but also puts the community at risk, including people who have legitimate medical conditions and can’t be vaccinated,” he says. “With immunity dropping, we are at real risk of measles becoming endemic again [in the U.S.] and infecting more people and potentially even killing more people.”

Since achieving elimination in 2000, a number of measles cases generally cropped up in the U.S. every year, usually as a result of people becoming infected through exposure abroad. But since 2025, that relatively contained caseload is no more. What’s happening now is evidence of greater local transmission within the country, Winter says. If a chain of local transmission persists for more than 12 months, then the U.S. will lose its measles-free status. The Pan American Health Organization is set to review the U.S.’s measles elimination status in April.

“In my head, we’ve already lost elimination status,” Winter says.

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