New Measles Clusters Reported in 2 States as Cases in US Hit 34-Year High

The cases occurred among residents of Ohio and North Carolina.

A sign for measles testing in Seminole, Texas, in a Feb. 27, 2025, file photograph. Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images

Officials in two states are reporting cases of measles, as federal authorities said the number nationwide hit a mark not recorded in 34 years.

Ohio officials said Jan. 8 that testing results confirm three children in Cuyahoga County who live in the same household contracted measles.

Two began experiencing symptoms this year. The other started showing signs in late 2025.

All three were unvaccinated when they were exposed during travel to a different part of the country, where there was an ongoing measles outbreak, the Ohio Department of Health said.

Officials are working to determine whether other people were exposed, and are encouraging people to receive a measles vaccine.

“The fact that we again have measles cases in Ohio underlines the importance of being fully vaccinated,” Ohio Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said in a statement. “This disease can be very serious, but it is also preventable. I strongly encourage you to protect yourselves and your children by getting vaccinated.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends children receive one dose of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine around their first birthday, and a second dose when they are 4, 5, or 6 years of age. That recommendation was maintained in the CDC’s recent update of its childhood vaccine schedule.

Side effects of the vaccine include febrile seizure.

Ohio recorded 45 cases of measles in 2025, up from seven in 2024.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, meanwhile, said Jan. 6 that three siblings contracted measles after visiting Spartanburg County, South Carolina, where a measles outbreak started in 2025.

“To protect the family’s privacy, no additional information about these cases will be released,” the agency said in a statement.

People who on Jan. 4 between 2 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. visited the waiting room at the Mission Hospital Emergency Department in Buncombe County may have been exposed, officials said. They said they are figuring out the identities of exposed individuals and plan to contact them to discuss next steps.

South Carolina officials said this week that they confirmed 26 more cases of measles, bringing the total related to the outbreak in the northern part of the state to 211. Some 144 people are quarantining, and seven are in isolation—part of the state’s strategy to curb the outbreak.

The CDC defines an outbreak as three or more related cases.

Measles is a contagious disease that primarily spreads through droplets from infected people and brings symptoms such as rash and cough.

The CDC said on Wednesday that the total number of confirmed measles cases in 2025 was 2,144 across 45 states and international visitors. Seven percent of patients had received at least one dose of the MMR vaccine, while the rest were listed as being unvaccinated or having unknown vaccination status.

Eleven percent of patients were hospitalized, and three died, according to the CDC, although Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that the patients had already been suffering from other problems.

The number in 2025 was the highest since 1991, when 9,643 cases were logged.

Other outbreaks have been reported recently in foreign countries such as Canada and Yemen. The World Health Organization revoked Canada’s measles-elimination status due to ongoing outbreaks. It will consider soon whether to keep the United States’ measles elimination status in place.