US 2026 measles cases hit 2465 topping 2025 total as PAHO elimination status review postponed to November
The US has confirmed 2,465 measles cases in 2026, above 2025's 2,289, the highest total since 1991. CDC: 94% of cases tie to 38 active outbreaks, 93% of patients were unvaccinated or unknown status. Cases logged every week since Jan 2025; PAHO's US elimination review is set for N
The United States is on pace to end its 26-year run of eliminated measles status. CDC's latest tally puts 2026 cases at 2,465, already above the 2,289 reported for all of 2025, itself the highest annual count since 1991. The agency is tracking 38 active outbreaks, and 94% of this year's cases, 2,309 of 2,465, are linked to them. About 20% of cases are in children five and under, 68% are in people under 20, and 93% of patients were unvaccinated or had an unknown vaccination status. The US declared measles eliminated in 2000, a designation that requires no more than 12 months of continuous domestic transmission. The country has now logged measles cases every week since January 2025. Canada already lost its own elimination status in November 2025 after PAHO found 12 months of continual transmission there. PAHO's expert panel was originally set to review whether the US keeps its status in April 2026, but postponed the meeting to November at the request of US officials, who cited the need for more time to complete genomic sequencing linking this year's cases to the outbreak that began in West Texas in January 2025. Source: CDC, PAHO, KFF.