Cases of Measles in US Surpass 2,000 for First Time in More Than 30 Years

There were 49 measles outbreaks in the country in 2025.

A sign about measles in Seminole, Texas, on April 9, 2025. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

The number of measles cases climbed above 2,000 in the United States in 2025, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Dec. 31.

As of Dec. 30, state and local officials reported 2,065 confirmed measles cases to the CDC, the agency said in an update on its website.

Additional cases listed as probable are not included in the tally.

Cases of measles had not surpassed 2,000 in the United States since 1992, when 2,126 cases were recorded.

The peak between 1992 and 2025 was 1,274 in 2019, fueled by outbreaks in New York state. The CDC defines an outbreak as three or more related cases.

Forty-nine outbreaks resulted in most of the cases in 2025. Texas recorded more than 800 cases. The largest outbreak there concluded in August, according to state officials.

There are several ongoing outbreaks, including one in South Carolina.

The South Carolina Department of Public Health on Tuesday reported 20 new cases in recent days, bringing the total related to an outbreak in northern South Carolina to 176. Nearly 300 people are in quarantine or isolation because they were exposed to measles at a school, church, or other place.

“We expect to continue to see cases well into January,” Dr. Linda Bell, South Carolina’s state epidemiologist, told reporters in an online briefing.

Measles is a highly contagious disease that can cause symptoms including rash and fever.

A number of measles patients in 2025 were admitted to hospitals with complications. Three died from measles, according to the CDC and local officials, although Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said that the patients had already been suffering from other problems, such as mononucleosis.

Most of the cases have occurred among people who did not receive a measles vaccine, or who had not been confirmed to have received a vaccine.

Kennedy and the CDC say the measles vaccine prevents measles. The CDC’s vaccine schedule recommends one dose at around 1 year of age and a second dose when a child is 4, 5, or 6 years old.

“If you take that vaccine, you’re unlikely to get measles,” Kennedy said during a town hall in 2025.

Kennedy has also noted the vaccine, like all shots, can cause side effects.

The CDC says measles cannot spread well in areas with at least 95 percent coverage, a concept known as herd immunity. “When measles gets into communities of unvaccinated people in the United States, outbreaks can occur,” it says on its website.

Among kindergartners nationwide, the measles vaccination rate dipped to 92.5 percent in the 2024–2025 school year, according to the CDC. In some parts of the country, rates are even lower. In Gaines County, where the Texas outbreak started, the rate was 82 percent.

Kennedy during the Texas outbreak directed federal officials to figure out which existing drugs and vitamins work against measles.

“The CDC continues to recommend measles vaccination as the most effective way to prevent the disease,” a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC’s parent agency, told The Epoch Times via email previously. “At the same time, we recognize that some individuals and communities across the U.S. may choose not to vaccinate. Our commitment is to support all families—regardless of their vaccination status—in reducing the risk of hospitalization, serious complications, and death from measles.”