U.S. Measles Cases Surge to 733 This Year
The alarming total accumulated within mere weeks, the CDC reported, drastically exceeding the long-term annual average of approximately 180 cases recorded since health authorities declared measles eliminated domestically in 2000. This year's figure does not include 2024's unprecedented spike of 2,276 cases.
The explosion in infections coincides with South Carolina battling what state officials characterize as its most significant measles outbreak in recent history, while numerous other states grapple with ongoing transmission.
Confirmed cases have emerged in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin, the CDC data indicates.
Public health authorities attribute the majority of outbreaks to communities where vaccination coverage has deteriorated.
"Because it's such an infectious virus, whenever you see measles outbreaks, it in effect highlights areas of the country or communities in which vaccination rates are low," Media quoted Demetre Daskalakis, former head of the CDC branch that tracks diseases including measles, as saying.
CDC statistics reveal kindergarten vaccination rates for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine have dropped from 95% in 2019 to below 93% in 2025.
Epidemiologists emphasize herd immunity typically demands vaccination coverage around 95% to effectively contain viral spread.
"I think that this highlights that our defenses are down," Daskalakis said, adding that declining vaccination rates have left about 300,000 kindergarteners unprotected.
The CDC maintains the two-dose MMR vaccine delivers approximately 97% effectiveness against measles infection.
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