U.S. Measles Count Hits 5,182, Highest Annual Total Since 1991

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 5,182 measles cases in the United States in 2026 as of Nov. 5, after ABC News reported on Nov. 6 that the national count had crossed 5,000.

The agency’s page, updated Nov. 6, puts infections in 47 jurisdictions, with 18 more among international visitors. It is the highest annual U.S. total since 1991, when the CDC recorded 9,643 cases, and the first year confirmed cases have exceeded 5,000 since then. This year’s tally remains below that 1991 peak.

ABC News, citing fresh CDC figures, said cases had surpassed 5,000. The CDC’s own table now lists 5,182.

Outbreaks Across Nearly the Entire Map

Forty-three new outbreaks have been reported in 2026, according to the CDC. Of the 5,182 confirmed cases, 4,993 — 96% — are outbreak-associated, including 3,608 from outbreaks that began this year and 1,385 that started in 2025 and carried over.

The full-year 2025 total was 2,289. In 2024 the CDC logged 285 cases, and in 2019 — previously the highest post-elimination year — 1,274.

Pennsylvania remains the largest state outbreak cited in recent reporting, with about 1,467 confirmed cases across 45 counties as of around Nov. 3, according to MedicalDaily’s summary of state figures. Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services counted 431 cases in 13 counties as of Nov. 3, with nine hospitalizations.

Clash Report flagged the scale of the 2026 wave in early October, when cases were already on course for the worst year since 1991.

Two Death Counts

The CDC’s national death tally currently lists four measles deaths in 2026, a figure the agency says is subject to change as reviews continue. It is working with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists on a standardized definition.

State health departments have separately reported eight measles-associated deaths: six in Pennsylvania, one in New York and one in Wisconsin. The two systems should not be collapsed into a single number.

Wisconsin announced an infant death on Nov. 5, the first measles fatality in the state since 1990. A coroner listed measles as the immediate cause of death.

“It is with a heavy heart we are reporting the first death of an infant connected with a measles outbreak in Wisconsin in many years. My heart is broken for the family,” Wisconsin DHS Secretary Kirsten Johnson said. “Any death of a child is a tragedy and even more so when it is related to a vaccine-preventable disease. Measles can cause serious illness and death, and it is important for all Wisconsinites to evaluate their risk and take steps to protect themselves and their family.”

The CDC recorded three measles deaths in 2025.

Vaccination Gaps and Elimination Review

Detailed CDC clinical tables compiled by the American Academy of Pediatrics as of Oct. 29 — when the case count stood at 4,852 — showed 96% of patients unvaccinated or with unknown status, 2% with one MMR dose and 2% with two. Eleven percent were hospitalized (511 of 4,852), including 16% of children under five.

Kindergarten MMR coverage has fallen from 95.2% in the 2019–20 school year to 92.4% in 2025–26, leaving roughly 280,000 kindergartners at risk, the CDC says. Community protection is generally framed above 95%. Two MMR doses are about 97% effective against measles; one dose is about 93%.

Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000. Secondary outlets report that a Pan American Health Organization commission is scheduled to review U.S. elimination status around Nov. 10–13. No decision has been announced.

Global outbreak pressure continues elsewhere. Clash Report has covered measles spreading alongside cholera and malaria in Sudanese refugee camps, and parallel vaccine-driven responses to other epidemics, including an Ebola vaccination push in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.