Measles is making a comeback in the U.S. “Babies less than a year old are among those at greatest risk for severe complications”

The number of measles cases in the United States is surging once again for a second year in a row. According to the most recent Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) measles data there have now been 1,842 confirmed cases across the nation.

That’s just 402 fewer than in all of 2025 compared to only 283 cases in all of 2024. Utah is the center of the latest outbreak with 441 confirmed cases. The outbreak earlier this year in South Carolina that infected over 600 people has now been declared over.

The main driver of infections is unvaccinated people with coverage falling below the 95% needed for herd immunity among kindergarteners in the 2025-2025 school year. Just 78.5 percent of public-school kindergartners in the 2023-2024 school year in Utah had been vaccinated for the measles.

Full impact of measles epidemic in U.S. could take years to show up

Measles is a highly contagious disease that can be deadly. Last year 3 people died from measles infections, two were young girls. Between 2000, when measles was declared eliminated in the United States, and 2024 there was only one measles-associated death.

“Viral infections aren’t all benign and a measles infection even when cleared can result in lifelong problems,” said Maimuna Majumder, a co-author of a recent analysis of the ongoing measles epidemic in the United States, in a press release. “Babies less than a year old are among those at greatest risk for severe complications, and the full impact on children exposed during the current outbreak may only show up years later.”

The continual spread of measles beginning in January 2025 is making it “highly likely” that the United States’ designation of having the disease eliminated will be taken away according to Boston Children’s Hospital researchers. They published their findings from an analysis of the seven criteria established by the CDC to qualify for the measles elimination status.

The United States currently fails to meet four of the benchmarks and is at risk on the other three.

Missed benchmarks

• Case rates far exceed elimination thresholds
• High proportion of cases are due to local transmission rather than importation
• Larger and more frequent outbreaks
• High transmission rates

Benchmarks at risk

• Going four weeks without non-imported infections
• Meeting herd immunity vaccination rate
• No endemic (single shared) measles virus strain

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