Aug 14 (Reuters) – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday there were 2,566 confirmed measles cases in the country so far this year, expanding the highest annual total in more than 35 years.
Here are some details:
• The overall 2026 figures represent the highest number of U.S. cases in a single year since a major resurgence of the highly contagious disease in the period from 1989 to 1991, with more than 55,000 infections and 123 deaths.
• Measles-related hospitalizations this year stand at 169 so far with zero deaths, compared to 243 hospitalizations and three deaths in 2025.
• As many as 93% of this year’s cases were in unvaccinated individuals or people whose vaccination status was unknown, with the rest having received one or two doses of vaccine before being infected, the CDC said.
• Infections were documented by the CDC this year in 45 states along with New York City and the District of Columbia. There have been 38 new outbreaks reported in 2026, compared to 48 in 2025.
• A South Carolina outbreak had sickened nearly 1,000 people over six months after it began in October 2025 to become the largest single-location U.S. outbreak since measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000.
• A surge in measles cases during the past two years has coincided with a steady slump in MMR immunization rates for children since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
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