U.S. closes in on 1,000 measles cases in first two months of 2026
The United States has officially recorded 982 cases of measles in 2026, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday. That’s more than four times the number of cases compared to the same time last year, when a large outbreak was just beginning in West Texas.
Twenty-six states have reported cases so far this year. Large outbreaks continue to develop in Utah, Arizona and, particularly, South Carolina, where the virus has been spreading since the fall. As of Friday, the state had reported nearly 800 cases since January, bringing the outbreak total to 973.
This is the largest measles outbreak the United States has seen in a generation. South Carolina state epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell said at least 20 people were hospitalized.
“These hospitalizations include both adults and children,” Bell said in a call with reporters Wednesday. “Other cases required medical attention for measles but were not hospitalized. »
According to the CDC, more than one in ten cases of measles in 2025 resulted in hospitalization. Most of them were children and adolescents.
In Florida, cases are also on the rise: the state health department has reported 92 cases so far this year. Sixty-six of those cases are in Collier County and are largely clustered at Ave Maria University near Naples.
Graduate student Blaise Carney told NBC affiliate station WBBH that he was one of the first on campus to get sick last month.
“It started with an ear infection,” Carney said. “And then it continued with the sniffles and sore throat and everything else. And then I got progressively worse, until I was in the emergency room and I had a rash all over my body.”
Carney said he was diagnosed with measles and strep throat at the same time, and was given intravenous fluids in the emergency room. He did not need to be admitted to the hospital and instead isolated himself in his dormitory, where he said he remained in bed for a week.
Carney said he was vaccinated against the virus as a child.
Two doses of measles vaccine – one given around age 1 and the second around age 5 – are 97% effective in preventing measles, usually for life, according to the CDC. This means that 3% of people can get measles even after being vaccinated.
Despite his illness, Carney said, the statistics are overwhelmingly in favor of the shots.
“If you’re not vaccinated, go ahead and get vaccinated,” he said. “It may not protect you 100%, but it’s your best chance.”
The vast majority of measles cases concern unvaccinated people.
Although most people recover, some will develop long-term health problems after their telltale rash clears. The virus targets cells that play a key role in a person’s immune system, making them vulnerable to later illness.
In rare cases, people can develop dangerous brain inflammation 7 to 10 years after a measles infection. This disease, called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, or SSPE, is almost always fatal.
Doctors at Children’s Hospital of Orange County in California described details of a case in the New England Journal of Medicine on Saturday.
It involved a 7-year-old boy who went to the hospital after several months of progressively worsening seizures and cognitive problems.
The boy had contracted measles while living in Afghanistan, where the virus has not been eliminated. (The United States could lose its elimination status as soon as this year, as vaccination rates fall and the virus regains a foothold.)
Doctors wrote that when the boy arrived at the hospital, he could not speak and his body’s muscle reflexes were not functioning normally – signs of significant neurological problems. He was diagnosed with SSPE. Less than a year after his first symptoms, he died.
Before measles was eliminated in the United States, the CDC estimated that 7 to 11 people in 100,000 were at risk for SSPE. This risk may be higher in people infected with measles before their second birthday.
