US Measles Cases Top 5,000 for the First Time Since 1991

The United States has recorded 5,182 measles cases so far in 2026, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on Friday, November 6 — the highest annual total in 35 years. In the same week, three Americans died of measles, including an infant in Wisconsin.

What the CDC reported

The CDC's latest weekly update puts the national case count at 5,182 as of November 5, 2026 — up 330 cases from the previous update. Cases have been confirmed in 45 states plus Washington, D.C., according to ABC News.

The total is already more than double the 2,289 cases recorded in all of 2025, and it is the highest annual count since 1991 — almost a decade before measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000.

The CDC's data shows that nearly all of the people infected this year were unvaccinated, and children and adolescents account for nearly 60 percent of confirmed cases.

Three deaths in one week

Three measles deaths were reported in the United States in a single week:

- On Monday, a child in Lewis County, New York, died — the state's first measles death in 30 years. - On Wednesday, a Pennsylvania resident died. Pennsylvania has recorded six measles deaths this year, the most of any state. - On Thursday, Wisconsin health officials announced that an infant had died of measles amid an outbreak in the southwestern part of the state.

State health departments have now reported eight measles-associated deaths in the United States in 2026. The CDC has confirmed four of those deaths and says its count is "subject to change" as additional information becomes available and reviews are completed. The gap exists because the CDC relies on federal mortality records, which move more slowly than state reporting.

Until 2025, the United States had gone years without a measles death, according to CNN.

Wisconsin: first death in more than 35 years

The Wisconsin infant's death is the state's first measles-related death since 1990, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services said on Thursday. The coroner listed measles as the infant's immediate cause of death.

Wisconsin is experiencing its largest measles outbreak in more than three decades. As of Thursday, the state had recorded 431 cases across 13 counties this year, compared with just 36 cases in all of 2025. State health officials caution that the true number is almost certainly higher, because not everyone who gets sick seeks medical care.

Wisconsin Health Secretary Kirsten Johnson called the death a tragedy tied to a vaccine-preventable disease.

The last time numbers looked like this

The last comparable resurgence ran from 1989 to 1991 and produced about 55,000 infections and 123 deaths in the United States. That outbreak helped drive the two-dose vaccination schedule still used today.

Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known: an infected person can spread it through the air for up to two hours after leaving a room, and about 9 in 10 unvaccinated people exposed to it become infected. The CDC says two doses of the MMR vaccine are about 97 percent effective at preventing measles.

What happens next: elimination status under review

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is scheduled to review U.S. transmission data on November 10–13, 2026, to decide whether the United States keeps its measles elimination status.

Elimination does not mean zero cases — it means no continuous spread of a single measles strain for 12 months. If the review finds that one strain has circulated without interruption for a year, the status can be withdrawn. Health experts quoted in coverage of the review have described losing the status as likely, though no decision has been made.

The CDC is expected to publish its next weekly case update on Friday, November 13.