US Measles Outbreak Hits 1,986 Cases in 2025

The United States is grappling with its largest measles outbreak in over three decades, with nearly 2,000 confirmed cases reported nationwide in 2025 and three deaths, health officials announced this week. The resurgence, which began in a Mennonite community outside Lubbock, West Texas, in January, has spread across multiple states, threatening the country's measles elimination status achieved in 2000 if transmission persists into late January 2026.

The outbreak originated on January 20 in West Texas and was declared over in August, but cases have continued to emerge elsewhere. As of December 22, the total stood at 1,986, including 60 new cases in the past week. More than 90 percent of infections have occurred among unvaccinated individuals, with children bearing the brunt: 512 cases in those under 5 years old, 808 in ages 5 to 19, and 625 in adults 20 and older. Of the 222 hospitalizations, 20 percent involved children under 5. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 93 percent of cases were in people unvaccinated or of unknown status, while only 4 percent had received both doses of the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine.