The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today said the United States has 1,912 confirmed measles cases so far in 2025, an increase of 84 cases since last week and a bad sign as holiday gatherings, travel, and indoor activities is set to pick up in the final weeks of the year.
In January 2026, the United States is at risk of losing its measles elimination status because of ongoing transmission chains from a West Texas outbreak that began early last year and sickened roughly 800 people. The country first gained elimination status in 2000.
Eighty-eight percent of cases in the United States this year are outbreak-associated, and there have been 47 outbreaks recorded. Last year, 16 outbreaks were reported during 2024 and 69% of cases (198 of 285) were outbreak-associated.
Currently Utah, Arizona, and South Carolina are seeing large outbreaks that since Thanksgiving have pushed state totals well past 100 cases. Those outbreaks have been marked by exposures at schools and churches in communities with low vaccination levels.
Utah-Arizona outbreak grows to 254 cases
In South Carolina, 281 students at eight schools in the Upstate region are in quarantine. That state has 114 cases, 111 associated with the Upstate outbreak.
The most recent case in Utah was also in a school setting outside of Salt Lake City, but the highest activity is still in a southwestern region of the state that borders Arizona. The Utah-Arizona outbreak, which began in Colorado City, Arizona, and neighboring Hildale, Utah, now has 254 cases, and is the second largest US outbreak this year after West Texas.
Late yesterday, Arizona officials confirmed 21 new measles cases in the past week, raising the state total to 176. Of those cases, all but four are from Mohave County, home to Colorado City.
The CDC said that, among all confirmed measles cases, 92% of patients are unvaccinated or have unknown vaccination status. Three percent have had one dose of measles-containing vaccine, and 4% have had two doses. There have been three confirmed deaths from measles this year, and 11% of patients have required hospitalization, but 21% of those younger than five years have needed hospital care.
