Measles cases reach highest level since disease was 'eliminated' in US

Measles cases continue to spread across the U.S.

Measles cases continue to spread across the U.S., with 800 cases confirmed. Infections disease expert Dr. Peter Chin-Hong joins LiveNOW's Christina Evans to discuss the latest.

The United States just reported its highest number of measles cases in more than three decades.

There have been a total of 1,288 cases nationally, but public health experts maintain the true case count may be higher than state health departments have confirmed.

Measles no longer considered "eliminated" 

 Signs point the way to measles testing in the parking lot of the Seminole Hospital District across from Wigwam Stadium on Feb. 27, 2025 in Seminole, Texas. (Photo by Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images)

Why you should care:

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that the national case count surpassed 2019, when there were 1,274 cases for the year and the country almost lost its status of having eliminated the vaccine-preventable illness. That could happen this year if the virus has nonstop spread for 12 months.

The World Health Organization said in 2000 that measles had been eliminated from the U.S. 

By the numbers:

• Three confirmed deaths
• Measles confirmed in 38 states

This year's outbreaks, some of them interconnected, started five months ago in undervaccinated communities in West Texas. Three people have died — two children in Texas and an adult in New Mexico — and dozens of people have been hospitalized. 

North America has three other major measles outbreaks, with 2,966 cases in Chihuahua state, Mexico, 2,223 cases in Ontario, Canada and 1,230 in Alberta, Canada.

MMR vaccine

A recent study found childhood vaccination rates against measles fell after the COVID-19 pandemic in nearly 80% of the more than 2,000 U.S. counties with available data, including in states that are battling outbreaks this year.

Only 92.7% of kindergarteners in the U.S. had the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in the 2023-2024 school year, below the 95% needed to prevent outbreaks. In Gaines County, Texas, the epicenter of the Texas outbreak, only 82% of kindergarteners were up-to-date with MMR vaccines.

State and federal leaders have for years kept funding stagnant for local public health departments' vaccination programs that are tasked with reversing the trend.

What you can do:

The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is 97% effective at preventing measles after two doses.

Getting another MMR shot as an adult is harmless if there are concerns about waning immunity, the CDC says. People who have documentation of receiving a live measles vaccine in the 1960s don’t need to be revaccinated, but people who were immunized before 1968 with an ineffective vaccine made from "killed" virus should be revaccinated with at least one dose, the agency said.

People who have documentation that they had measles are immune and those born before 1957 generally don’t need the shots because so many children got measles back then that they have "presumptive immunity."

Symptoms of measles

Measles first infects the respiratory tract, then spreads throughout the body, causing a high fever, runny nose, cough, red, watery eyes and a rash.

The rash generally appears three to five days after the first symptoms, beginning as flat red spots on the face and then spreading downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet. When the rash appears, the fever may spike over 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the CDC.

Most kids will recover from measles, but infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and death.