With 58 new measles case announced today and 2,318 for the year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed it: The country has already topped the US total for all of 2025.

All but 16 of this year’s cases have been locally acquired, with the rest tied to international travel. The total for all of last year was 2,289 infections, which was the most since 1991. The country is on its way to losing its measles elimination status this fall, which it gained in 2000.

“Halfway into 2026, the U.S. is experiencing the worst year for measles since 1991,” said Andrew Racine, MD, PhD, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, in a news release. “We are witnessing an avoidable crisis that disproportionally hurts children.” 

Racine said the cases represent “real people in communities across the country,” including hospitalized babies and students who’ve missed weeks of school.

“After keeping measles under control for decades, the country has now experienced continuous outbreaks since January 2025,” Racine said. “We should not accept this as our new normal. …

Of the 2026 cases, 20% involve children age 5 and under, and 69% involve kids and young adults to age 19. Seven percent of patients have been hospitalized, compared with 11% in 2025. Among all measles patients, 93% are unvaccinated or have unknown vaccine status. 

We should not accept this as our new normal.

Racine noted that two shots of the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine are 97% effective at preventing measles. “That’s why the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends routine MMR vaccination for all children.”

No measles deaths have been reported this year. Last year, three people, including two children, succumbed to the readily spread disease.

Pennsylvania is now the latest measles hot spot. State officials confirmed 29 new measles cases in the past seven days and 139 total. Utah, the state with the largest active outbreak, lists four new cases, for a 2026 total of 514. The CDC measles map, however, shows 134 cases in Pennsylvania (24 new this week) and 522 in Utah (four new). 

Arizona recorded 11 new cases this week, 119 total. Many of the new cases are in Maricopa County. Last week county officials noted seven new cases, 21 total. The new cases are tied to a business in Aguila. “This is significantly higher than the annual [county] average of one case per year for the last 30 years,” officials said in a news release.

Washington logged one new case this week, raising its 2026 total to 46. The case involves an unvaccinated child in Clark County in the southwest, but the exposure source is unknown. The child may have exposed others at a clinic in Salmon Creek on July 17. 

Health officials in Yakima County, which in the south-central part of the state, cautioned about a measles exposure on July 13 from an infected Clark County resident who sought care at MultiCare Yakima Memorial Hospital on July 13. It’s not clear if this involves the same Clark County child.

In promising news, Virginia reported no new cases for the second straight week, after notching 22 cases the previous week. Its total remains at 177.