United States Records Over 5,000 Measles Cases in Highest Surge Since 1991

Confirmed measles cases in the United States reached 5,182 in 2026, according to figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The figure marks the highest annual case count recorded by the federal agency since 1991 and represents more than double the 2,289 cases confirmed in 2025. Children and teenagers account for approximately 59 percent of all confirmed infections, with minors under the age of five representing 18 percent of cases and those aged five to 19 making up 41 percent.

CDC data indicates that 4,993 of the total cases were linked to specific outbreaks. Health officials attribute the increase in transmission to declining immunization coverage among American schoolchildren. Nationwide vaccination coverage among kindergarten pupils dropped from 95.2 percent during the 2019–2020 academic year to 92.4 percent in the 2025–2026 school year.

The surge has also brought a public disagreement between state and federal authorities regarding the official death toll. While the CDC currently lists four measles fatalities nationwide, state reporting in Pennsylvania—the jurisdiction hardest hit by the outbreak with 1,487 cases—counts six deaths. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have taken opposing views on how those fatalities ought to be categorized by public health tracking systems.

Pennsylvania's Department of Health registers a casualty as a measles-associated death if a patient with a confirmed case dies within 30 days of developing symptoms, provided the cause was not an unrelated event. In August, state authorities reported that two unvaccinated individuals died of measles. The CDC initially added these two fatalities to its national database before removing them after Secretary Kennedy questioned whether the virus had caused or contributed to the deaths.

The CDC stated that it is collaborating with the US Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists to establish a standardized definition for measles fatalities. Epidemiologists interviewed by Al Jazeera noted that tracking measles-associated deaths has long served as a standard methodology for both the CDC and the World Health Organization. Although the United States declared the virus eliminated more than two decades ago, cases have also been rising globally in regions with low immunization rates or limited healthcare access.

Written by Thomas Nussbaumer thomas.nussbaumer@alpineweekly.com