{"id":11160,"date":"2026-01-07T18:26:50","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T00:26:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/?p=11160"},"modified":"2026-01-07T18:26:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T00:26:53","slug":"us-sees-highest-measles-case-count-in-decades-as-outbreaks-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/2026\/01\/07\/us-sees-highest-measles-case-count-in-decades-as-outbreaks-grow\/","title":{"rendered":"US Sees Highest Measles Case Count in Decades as Outbreaks Grow"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"panel body-content\"><div class=\"panel__container\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pulmonologyadvisor.com\/news\/us-sees-highest-measles-case-count-in-decades-as-outbreaks-grow\/\">Pulmonology Advisor<\/a> The U.S. recorded more than 2,000&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthday.com\/a-to-z-health\/infectious-disease\/what-is-measles-and-how-can-i-shield-myself-my-family\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"measles, opens in a new window\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">measles<\/a>&nbsp;cases in 2025, the nation\u2019s highest yearly total in decades, health officials report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As of Dec. 30, 2,065 measles cases had been confirmed nationwide, according to the latest data from the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/measles\/data-research\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opens in a new window\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>&nbsp;(CDC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The last time the United States saw more cases in a single year was 1992, before doctors routinely recommended two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine for children,&nbsp;<em>CNN&nbsp;<\/em>reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Several large outbreaks are still spreading, including one in upstate South Carolina and another along the Arizona-Utah border, raising concerns that the U.S. could lose its measles elimination status, which it has held since 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Measles is one of the world\u2019s most contagious diseases, but vaccination helps keep it in check. One dose of the MMR vaccine is 93% effective, while two doses are 97% effective, according to the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/measles\/vaccines\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"CDC, opens in a new window\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CDC<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite that protection, vaccination rates have dropped. During the 2024-25 school year, 92.5% of kindergarteners had received the MMR&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pulmonologyadvisor.com\/features\/infections-during-pregnancy\/\">vaccine<\/a>, which is below the 95% coverage public health experts say is needed to head off outbreaks.<\/p>\n<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"\/secure-location.php\" style=\"display: none;\" title=\"WIiH TF  fcf P orkTZk  r oW\"><\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pulmonology Advisor The U.S. recorded more than 2,000&nbsp;measles&nbsp;cases in 2025, the nation\u2019s highest yearly total in decades, health officials report. As of Dec. 30, 2,065 measles cases had been confirmed nationwide, according to the latest data from the&nbsp;U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention&nbsp;(CDC). The last time the United States saw more cases in a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-measles"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11161,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11160\/revisions\/11161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}