Measles cases in California in 2026 have already more than doubled the total for all of 2025, state health officials reported.<\/p>\n
In California, there have been 52 confirmed cases of measles<\/a> in 2026, the California Department of Public Health said July 20.<\/p>\n The state had 25 confirmed cases in all of 2025.<\/p>\n Children ages 5 to 19 account for 52% of the confirmed 2026 cases, the agency said. Four of the 2026 cases have required hospitalization, and there have been no deaths.<\/p>\n Sacramento and Placer are among the counties reporting confirmed cases in 2026, the department said.<\/p>\n The highly contagious disease<\/a> infected 2,289 people nationwide in 2025, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So far in 2026, the U.S. has confirmed 2,318 cases and 93% of those were unvaccinated.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what to know:<\/p>\n What is measles? Where are outbreaks in the U.S.?<\/p>\n Measles<\/a> is a \u201chighly contagious\u201d virus that spreads through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes, according to the CDC.<\/p>\n The disease can cause \u201cserious health complications,\u201d especially in children younger than 5 years old, the federal public health agency said.<\/p>\n Complications due to measles can include pneumonia, \u201cbrain swelling, even blindness and death,\u201d Chin-Hong said.<\/p>\n Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, the CDC said, meaning that the continuous spread of the disease was stopped for longer than 12 months.<\/p>\n Already, as of Feb. 26, 28 states have reported measles cases.<\/p>\n Why are measles cases increasing?<\/p>\n About 90% of unvaccinated people who come in contact with measles will get sick with the disease, the California Department of Public Health said.<\/p>\n The highly contagious virus can live airborne in a room for up to two hours, the agency said, and it only requires a small amount of particles to infect someone.<\/p>\n Measles rates are primarily rising due to high rates of the disease in other parts of the world paired with falling vaccination rates in the United States.<\/p>\n