Overview
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday that the United States has recorded 2,318 measles cases so far in 2026, surpassing last year’s total and marking the highest toll in 35 years.
- More than 90 percent of confirmed cases are in people who are unvaccinated or under-vaccinated, and the CDC says most infections are tied to local outbreaks rather than single imported cases.
- Large, clustered outbreaks have driven the surge, including a 997-case outbreak in northern South Carolina that ended in April, an ongoing Utah outbreak that began in June 2025, and a major 2025 West Texas wave that caused hospitalizations and deaths.
- New exposures and clusters reported in late July include infectious travelers who passed through Los Angeles International Airport on flights from Cancún and London, two new cases in Maryland with listed exposure sites, and a four-person family cluster in Montgomery County, Texas that produced one hospitalization.
- Public health officials cite falling two-dose MMR coverage in many communities, expanded exemptions, misinformation on social media, and limited local health staffing as reasons the virus is spreading and as key obstacles to restoring the roughly 95 percent vaccine coverage needed to prevent future outbreaks.