US Measles Cases Reach Highest Level Since Disease Was Declared Eliminated In 2000, Data Show

The New York Times (7/9, Rosenbluth, Corum) reports CDC data released Wednesday reveal “there have now been more measles cases in 2025 than in any other year since the contagious virus was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000.” The data show that 1,288 people “have had a confirmed case of measles this year, 92 percent of whom were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown.” Most of the cases “have been tied to the Southwest outbreak – the largest single outbreak since 2000 – which began in January in a Mennonite community in West Texas and has since jumped to New Mexico and Oklahoma.” However, cases have “also popped up in 38 states, which experts say represents a concerning vulnerability to diseases of the past.” Experts fear the US is in danger of “losing elimination status, a designation given to countries that have not had continuous spread of measles for more than a year.” The AP (7/9, Shastri) reports the CDC’s count “is 14 more than 2019, when America almost lost its status of having eliminated the vaccine-preventable illness – something that could happen this year if the virus spreads without stopping for 12 months. But the U.S. is far from 1991, when there were 9,643 confirmed cases.”