The United States has recorded more than 5,000 confirmed measles cases this year, the highest annual total since 1991, after three measles-associated deaths were reported in a single week.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 5,182 confirmed cases as of November 5, up 330 cases, or 6.8 per cent, in a week, according to the agency’s update published on November 6. The count is more than double the 2025 total of 2,289 cases, and cases have now been reported in 47 jurisdictions across the country.
Three deaths in seven days
State health departments in New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin reported three measles-associated deaths between November 2 and November 5. On Monday, New York reported its first measles-associated death in 30 years. On Wednesday, Pennsylvania reported another death. On Thursday, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services announced the death of an infant, the state’s first measles death since 1990, with the local coroner listing measles as the immediate cause of death.
Wisconsin has recorded 431 cases across 13 counties in 2026, its largest outbreak in more than three decades, with nine hospitalisations. All but three of those cases were among people who were not vaccinated, according to state officials. Wisconsin Health Secretary Kirsten Johnson called the death a tragedy tied to a vaccine-preventable disease.
A disputed death toll
The national picture is clouded by a disagreement over the figures. State health departments have now reported eight measles-associated deaths nationwide in 2026, although the CDC’s official count stands at four. Pennsylvania accounts for most of the state-reported deaths. The CDC has said its count may change after it completes work on a new standardised case definition for measles deaths, and that it will update its figures as additional information becomes available.
The toll is the highest measles death count in the United States since 1991, when three deaths were recorded in 2025, the first since 2015. Next week, a Pan American Health Organization committee meets from November 10 to 13 to decide whether measles has re-established itself in the United States, a ruling that could cost the country its elimination status. No decision has been made, though loss of status is described as likely.
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