The cases of measles in the USA have exceeded 900 as the outbreaks continue to extend throughout the county, according to the new centers for disease control and prevention data Posted on Friday.
A total of 935 cases have been confirmed in 29 states, including Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indian Pennsylvania, Tennesse. Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
At least six states, including Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Texas, report outbreaks, which means three or more related cases.
CDC say that 13% of patients with measles in the US. This year have been hospitalized, most of which are under 19 years.
Among the cases confirmed nationwide, CDCs say that approximately 96% are among people who are not vaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown.
Meanwhile, 2% are among those who have received only one dose of the measles vaccine, papers, rubella (MMR) and 2% are among those who received the two required doses, according to CDC.
Boxes and vials of measles, paper, vaccine against rubella virus in a vaccine clinic placed by the Lubbock Department of Public Health, on March 1, 2025, in Lubbock, Texas.
Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images
Dr. Conrad Fischer, head of infectious diseases at One Brooklyn Health in New York City, told ABC News that he is concerned about the growing number of cases in the United States.
“This is a disease that was at the level of complete eradication; this should not be happening,” he said. “It is very sad to have an enormously safe vaccine that has been used in billions of people and have a kind of cultural social amnesia about how these diseases were in the past.”
In the decade before the measles vaccine, the CDC estimates That 3 to 4 million in the USs were sick from measles every year, around 48,000 were hospitalized and between 400 and 500 people died. Around 1,000 people suffered encephalitis, which is swelling of the brain.
Measles were declared eliminated of the USA in 2000 due to a highly effective vaccination program, according to CDC. But vaccination rates have been delayed in recent years, which leads to an increase in cases.
In Texas, where an outbreak has spread in the western part of the State, at least 663 cases have been confirmed as of Tuesday, according to the Health Services of the Texas State Department.
Meanwhile, officials in Denton County, in the eastern part of the State outside Dallas and Fort Worth, reported Your first measles case This week in a patient who attended a Texas Rangers game.
The infected individual, an adult with a state of unknown vaccination, visited Globe Life Field and a handful of restaurants and other places, Denton officials said.
In addition, Chicago reported his first measles cases this week, one in a suburban resident of Cook Count Chicago Public Health Department and Public Health Department of Cook County.
It occurs as a WHO report this week discovered that cases in the Americas are 11 times higher this year than at the same time last year.
Six countries, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Belize and Brazil, have reported a total of 2,318 cases so far this year. Last year he had 205 cases at the same time.
An outside a clinic with the Public Health District of South Plains is observed on February 23, 2025, in Brownfield, Texas.
Julio Cortez/AP, File
Fischer said measles is not a benign virus and can cause serious complications, especially among vulnerable individuals, such as young children and immunocompromised people.
“Measles has the opportunity to literally destroy your brain, cause pneumonia, ear infections and, although it is only fatal in a relatively small number of people, it spreads so incredibly easily that even if it is only a few percentages, it is something extremely dangerous,” he said.
Fischer emphasized that measles is the most contagious infectious disease known by humans, even compared to other dangerous diseases such as tuberculosis.
“For example, tuberculosis will spread only two or 3% of exposed people,” he said. “But if you are not vaccinated and exposed to someone with measles, it has a 90% chance of obtaining that infection.”
Dr. Whitney Harrington, a doctor of the infectious disease division in the Seattle Children’s Hospital, told ABC News that the United States is at risk that measles will become endemic again unless vaccination rates increase.
CDC currently recommended That people receive two doses of the MMR vaccine, the first to the ages of 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years. A dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective against measles, according to CDC.
“We really know that vaccines are the most important public health intervention to prevent infectious diseases,” said Harrington. “And we know that the number of cases and the severity of the cases of many infections have decreased drastically, including measles.”
He encouraged parents who have not yet vaccinated their children to talk to a doctor or a medical care provider about vaccination and vaccination benefits.
ABC News Youri ‘Benadjaoud contributed to this report.
