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(NEXSTAR) – Cyclospora isn’t the only public health crisis the U.S. is contending with in 2026. Measles, one of the world’s most contagious viruses, has now spread to 43 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday.
With months left in the year, the country has already surpassed the record-breaking number of measles cases we saw in all of 2025.
The CDC has confirmed 2,318 cases of measles across all but seven U.S. states. The nation had 2,289 cases in 2025, the worst year for measles in more than three decades. Now, 2026 has easily become the U.S.’s worst year for measles since 1991.
Early in the year, the biggest outbreak was easily in South Carolina. In the past few months, hundreds of measles cases have been confirmed in Arizona, Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and Virginia.
The only states without confirmed cases – at least as of Thursday – are Arkansas, Hawaii, Indiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire and West Virginia. But public health departments and disease researchers have long acknowledged that official counts are incomplete, because some people get sick and don’t seek out treatment.
Experts relying on mathematical modeling and genetic analyses indicate that a large outbreak on the Utah-Arizona border could be around three to four times bigger than what’s currently known, state epidemiologist Dr. Leisha Nolen said.
The U.S. is now at risk of losing its measles elimination status, a designation it has held since 2000.
“Regardless of what is determined about the country’s measles elimination status, the reality is that the United States has more measles cases this year than it has in decades,” said Dr. William Moss, an epidemiology professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and director of the school’s International Vaccine Access Center.
“We must focus on improving access to measles vaccine and increasing immunization coverage to stop measles in its tracks.”
There is little room for error in trying to stop measles. The virus is one of the most contagious, infecting 9 out of every 10 unvaccinated people exposed.
A person with measles who coughs or sneezes in a room, and then leaves that room, can still infect another person who enters that room up to two hours later, the CDC says.
Community-level protection takes a 95% vaccination rate.
Some people liken skipping vaccination to deciding not to wear a seat belt in a car, but that’s not a perfect analogy, said Dr. Mark Roberts, retired director of the Public Health Dynamics Lab at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health. Some people, like small infants and those with weakened immune systems, can’t get immunity through a vaccine.
“Not vaccinating your kid is like saying, ‘I don’t want my car to have brakes,'” he said. “Because it’s other people that you can hit. It’s not just you in your car. It’s other people.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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