Six people have died of measles in the United States this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday, as the country battles its largest outbreak of the disease since 1991. The total is twice the number of deaths recorded in 2025, and it shows how quickly the virus has returned to a country that declared it eliminated more than a quarter century ago.
The CDC published the figures on its website on Thursday. More than 5,400 cases have been reported nationwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University International Vaccine Access Center tracker. Pennsylvania has been the state hardest hit, with officials confirming six measles-associated deaths there this year. A child died in New York on election day, and an infant died in Wisconsin days later. New York recorded its first known measles-related fatality in more than three decades. The CDC did not identify which states accounted for the six deaths in its official count.
For families in the affected states, the numbers mean a disease many parents had never seen is now circulating in schools and clinics. Measles spreads through the air and can cause pneumonia, brain swelling and death. The MMR vaccine prevents most infections, so the deaths have renewed attention on vaccination rates, which have fallen in some communities.
Why the count changed
The CDC changed how it tracks measles deaths. It now uses data from the National Center for Health Statistics, a shift the agency announced on September 4. Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr argued without evidence that two of the deaths in Pennsylvania may not have been caused by measles, and asked the CDC’s director, Erica Schwartz, not to count them in the official tally, according to reporting by Reuters. The day after that report was published, the CDC changed its data source.
Active outbreaks have been reported in nearly every US state. The outbreak is the largest since 1991, and more than 5,400 cases have been recorded. Measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000, meaning the country had no continuous transmission for a year. The virus is highly contagious: it spreads when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes, and it can stay in the air after that person leaves a room.
The gap between the CDC’s tally and state-level figures has made the numbers harder to track. Pennsylvania has confirmed six deaths, New York has confirmed one and Wisconsin has confirmed one. The CDC’s official count of six deaths does not name the states, which makes it harder to see where the outbreak is most dangerous.
How many measles deaths have there been in 2026? The CDC has confirmed six measles-related deaths in the US in 2026. The figure is twice the number recorded in 2025 and has been published on the agency’s website.
The CDC and the World Health Organization say the MMR vaccine is the most effective protection, and they urge people to check their vaccination status. The CDC has said it will not change its measles response even if the US loses its elimination status. State health departments are expected to release updated case counts in the coming weeks.
