Among other nations, the United States, Bangladesh, and Guatemala are working to contain large measles outbreaks this week, with deaths reported in the latter two countries.
2026 US infections top 1,800
While South Carolina’s measles outbreak has been declared over, Utah this week added 18 more measles cases to its 2026 tally, for a total of 428, while Arizona posted two new cases in its ongoing outbreak, for 93 so far this year, according to their respective state health departments. The outbreak in Utah is currently the largest in the nation.
The nationwide measles infection total for the year to date stands at 1,814, up from 1,792 last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said today in its weekly update.
Among all patients, 92% were unvaccinated or had an unknown vaccination status, while 4% had received only one dose.
Of the national total, 1,803 measles cases were reported by 37 states and New York City. The remaining 11 were diagnosed in international visitors to the United States. Since the beginning of the year, 24 new outbreaks have been noted, and 93% of cases are outbreak-associated (415 from outbreaks starting this year and 1,273 from those that began in 2025). In all of last year, 2,288 measles cases were confirmed.
This year, 51% of measles infections have occurred in children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 years, and 21% were diagnosed in those younger than 5 years. Among all patients, 92% were unvaccinated or had an unknown vaccination status, while 4% had received only one dose.
Of all 1,814 measles patients, 6% required hospitalization, compared with 11% in 2025. Three deaths were documented last year, with none so far this year. Measles was officially eliminated from the United States in 2000 but began to resurge in recent years, putting the nation’s measles elimination status at risk.
Bangladesh approaches 35,000 illnesses, Guatemala nearly 5,300
Bangladesh, where many rural children are unvaccinated against measles and some families fear vaccines, is experiencing one of its worst outbreaks of the disease in decades, per media reports. Since mid-March, the number of suspected measles case has grown to nearly 35,000, primarily among children 5 years and younger, and 227 children have died.
The disease is especially rampant in Kurukpata in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, a remote area that borders war-torn Myanmar and is home to Indigenous populations, officials have said.
In Guatemala, a measles outbreak that began in December 2025 reached 5,297, including four deaths, as of late last week, per Outbreak News Today. The deaths were in infants younger than 1 year, too young to have completed their vaccine schedule. But signs point to the outbreak waning, with cases plummeting 94% in the past month and new weekly cases dropping from 906 at the peak to 51 last week.
