The United States has officially recorded 982 cases of measles in 2026, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday — more than quadruple the number of cases recorded at this time in 2025, when a large outbreak was just beginning in West Texas.
Twenty-six states have reported cases so far this year. Large outbreaks continue to grow in Utah, Arizona and, especially, South Carolina, where the virus has spread since the fall. As of Friday, the state had recorded nearly 800 cases since January, bringing the outbreak total to 973.
It is the largest measles outbreak in the United States in a generation. Dr. Linda Bell, South Carolina state epidemiologist, said that at least 20 people have been hospitalized.
“These hospitalizations affect both adults and children,” Bell stated during a call with reporters on Wednesday. “Other cases required medical attention for measles, but were not hospitalized.”
More than one in ten measles cases in 2025 required hospitalization, according to the CDC. The majority were children and adolescents.
In Florida, cases are also increasing: the state health department has reported 92 since the beginning of the year. Sixty-six are in Collier County, concentrated primarily at Ave Maria University near Naples.
Graduate student Blaise Carney told NBC affiliate WBBH that he was one of the first to get sick on campus in January.
(Measles cases already affect university students, as infections increase)
“It started with an ear infection,” he explained. “Then it continued with runny nose, sore throat and everything else. And little by little it got worse, until I ended up in the emergency room with 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. It was not necessary to admit him to the hospital, but he isolated himself in his bedroom, where he said he remained in bed for a week.
Carney said he had been vaccinated against the virus as a child.
According to the CDC, two doses of the measles vaccine — one given around age 1 and the second at age 5 — are 97% effective in preventing the disease, usually for life. That means 3% can get it even after getting immunized.
Carney said that even though he got sick, the statistics overwhelmingly favor vaccines.
“If you haven’t gotten vaccinated, do it,” he said. “It may not protect you 100%, but it is your best option.”
Most cases occur among people who are not vaccinated. And although they usually recover, some develop long-term health problems after the characteristic rash disappears. The virus attacks cells that play a key role in people’s immune systems, leaving them vulnerable to other diseases.
In rare cases, people can develop dangerous brain swelling seven to ten years after contracting measles. The disease, called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), is almost always fatal.
Doctors at Children’s Hospital of Orange County in California described the details of one case in the New England Journal of Medicine.
This is a 7-year-old boy who came to the hospital after several months of seizures and cognitive problems that were progressively worsening.
The boy had contracted measles as a baby while living in Afghanistan, where the virus has not been eradicated. The United States could lose its eradication status this year, as vaccination rates are declining and the virus is gaining ground.
(Alert due to the increase in measles cases throughout the American continent)
Doctors wrote that when he arrived at the hospital, the boy could not speak and his body’s muscle reflexes were not functioning normally, indicating significant neurological problems. He was diagnosed with SSPE and died less than a year after his first symptoms.
Before measles was eradicated in the United States, the CDC estimated that between seven and 11 people in every 100,000 were at risk for SSPE. This danger may be greater in those who become infected before turning two years old.
