{"id":535374,"date":"2026-03-20T20:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T20:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/535374\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T20:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T20:15:08","slug":"us-measles-outbreak-approaches-1500-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/535374\/","title":{"rendered":"US measles outbreak approaches 1,500 cases"},"content":{"rendered":"

With 125 new measles cases confirmed today, the US total has reached 1,487 measles infections, and the outbreak is on track to surpass last year\u2019s outbreak numbers\u2014which reflected a 35-year high\u2014before summer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported the new data in an update<\/a> today.<\/p>\n

The CDC confirmed 2,285 measles cases for all of last year, the most since 1991. The United States will likely lose its measles elimination status\u2014which it gained in 2000\u2014in November, when officials assess the data.<\/p>\n

The CDC said all but nine of the 2026 cases are from 31 states and New York City, with the rest travel-related. Of all confirmed cases, 94% are associated with one of 14 outbreaks.<\/p>\n

Last year, the country saw 48 outbreaks, many of which are still ongoing. The CDC defines an outbreak as three or more related cases.<\/p>\n

Of the 1,487 cases, 21% are in children younger than five years, and 74% involve children and young adults up to 19 years old. CDC data show that 92% of case-patients are unvaccinated or have an unknown vaccine status, with only 4% fully immunized with two measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) doses.<\/p>\n

Seventy-four cases (5%) have required hospital care, compared with 11% last year. No deaths have yet been attributed to measles in 2026 after three deaths in 2025.<\/p>\n

Utah, Texas see largest growth<\/p>\n

With 38 new cases<\/a> this week, Utah\u2019s total now stands at 443 infections. Of those, 246 are 2026 cases (but the CDC measles map<\/a> lists 275 cases for the year).<\/p>\n

Texas has 11 new cases and 147 so far this year, according to media reports<\/a> and the CDC measles map. Among those cases, 108 are in a federal detention facility managed by a private company in Hudspeth County.<\/p>\n

Vaccination continues to be the best way to prevent measles and stop this outbreak.<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s total increased by eight to 140, according to media reports<\/a>, including 104 cases in Collier County, six of which are new. The CDC map lists 122 cases in Florida.<\/p>\n

Colorado<\/a> has one new case, 12 for the year. Arizona\u2019s 2025-26 total<\/a> grew by two, to 278. Idaho<\/a> now has 22 cases, one of which is new. Neighboring Washington<\/a> has 28 infections so far this year after reporting two new illnesses in Grant County<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For the first time in months, the South Carolina Department of Health confirmed<\/a> no new measles cases, keeping the number of cases at 997. The department again reiterated, \u201cVaccination continues to be the best way to prevent measles and stop this outbreak.\u201d Ninety-four percent of the state\u2019s cases have been in Spartanburg County in the Upstate region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With 125 new measles cases confirmed today, the US total has reached 1,487 measles infections, and the outbreak…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-535374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}