US surpasses 1,000 measles cases in 2025, second worst year since disease was declared eliminated
Experts have said that numbers in the outbreak are a severe undercount because many cases are going unreported.
Only about 4% of measles cases reported to the CDC this year have been in people who had received at least one shot of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. (Photo Credit: Annie Rice/AP via CNN Newsource)
(CNN) — More than 1,000 measles cases have been reported in the United States in 2025, according to a CNN tally. This is only the second year cases have been this high since the disease was declared eliminated in the US a quarter-century ago, and a large multistate outbreak continues to grow, putting the nation on track for what could be the worst year since 2000.
At least 1,002 cases have been reported this year as of Wednesday, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health departments compiled by CNN. The vast majority of these cases – more than 800 – are associated with an outbreak centered in West Texas that has expanded to New Mexico, Oklahoma and possibly Kansas. Additional cases are expected to be reported from some of these states Friday.
Experts have said that numbers in the outbreak are a severe undercount because many cases are going unreported.
Up till now, there have been an average of about 180 measles cases reported each year since measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000, according to CDC data.
Since then, 2019 is only other year in which there were more than 1,000 cases, driven by large outbreaks in New York City and a nearby suburb. There were 1,274 confirmed measles cases in 2019, according to the CDC, only 272 more than have been reported in the first five months of 2025.
The CDC publishes data on measles cases each Friday, but it has stopped providing details on the specific number of cases in each state, and its national total does not always capture the latest updates from states.
As of Friday, the CDC was reporting 935 measles cases nationwide. About 13% of those cases have resulted in hospitalization, and only about 4% were in people who had received at least one shot of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. There have been three measles deaths this year — equal to the total number of deaths in the prior two decades.
There have been at least 12 outbreaks in the US this year, according to the CDC, defined as three or more related cases. In addition to the large outbreak centered in West Texas, other states with outbreaks include Ohio, where there have been more than 30 cases; Montana; and Michigan.
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