Measles cases top 2,000 in 2026 as CDC tracks outbreaks
NBC News, citing CDC data, says 2026 is already among the worst U.S. measles years since 2000 after last year’s 34-year high.
By Priya Raghavan · Science Reporter
3 min read
Measles is spreading widely in the United States again, with more than 2,000 confirmed cases counted in 2026, according to NBC News’ tracking of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. NBC News reported that the total already makes 2026 one of the two worst years for U.S. measles infections since 2000.
The resurgence matters because measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, a status that means the virus is no longer continuously circulating in the country. NBC News reported that the U.S. is at risk of losing that designation after a year of continuous spread.
South Carolina was an early center of the 2026 spread
NBC News reported that the main center of the disease at the start of 2026 was South Carolina, where the CDC confirmed more than 600 measles cases. By late January, more than 500 people were in quarantine in the state and hundreds had been infected, according to NBC News.
South Carolina officials declared that outbreak over in April, NBC News reported. The network said it is continuing to update a state-by-state map of year-to-date measles cases for all states and Washington, D.C., using CDC data.
Weekly counts were especially high early in the year. NBC News reported that 296 new cases were recorded in the second full week of 2026, with lower weekly totals after that point.
2025 set the stage for the current surge
The latest totals follow a sharp increase in 2025, when the CDC recorded 2,288 confirmed measles cases, according to NBC News. That was the highest annual U.S. count since 1991, NBC News reported.
Three people in the U.S., including two young girls, died of measles in 2025, according to NBC News. The network reported that major outbreaks last year began in West Texas in February, followed by an outbreak along the Utah-Arizona border in October.
The CDC recorded 49 measles outbreaks in 2025, up from 16 in 2024, NBC News reported. So far in 2026, 30 outbreaks have been reported, according to NBC News’ account of CDC figures.
Vaccination decline raises risk
NBC News linked the renewed vulnerability to declining childhood vaccination rates. The network reported that lower vaccination coverage has left communities more exposed to measles, a disease it described as among the most contagious viruses in the world.
The measles vaccine was introduced in 1963, NBC News reported. Before that, the disease infected hundreds of thousands of people and killed thousands in the U.S. each year, according to the network.
NBC News said it corrected an earlier graphic on Feb. 20, 2026, to state that the 2026 case count at that point was four times the 2025 count at the same time of year and 25 times the 2024 count, rather than seven times and 30 times.
This story draws on original reporting from NBC News.