July 16, 2025:
UNDATED-AP- Health officials in Illinois and North Dakota say their measles outbreaks are over. The U.S. added 21 new cases since July 9, 2025. States with active outbreaks include Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah. Two elementary school-aged children and an adult have died from measles this year. Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that’s airborne. It is preventable through vaccines and has been considered eliminated from the U.S. since 2000. This year’s U.S. tally is the highest since 1991.
Story
UNDATED-AP- Health officials in Illinois and North Dakota say their states’ measles outbreaks are over, pointing to a continuing slowdown of measles spread in the U.S. during vaccine-preventable disease’s worst year since 1991.
Wednesday’s (July 16, 2025) national case count stood at 1,309 — 21 new cases in a week, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last week, the U.S. passed the total count for 2019, when the country almost lost its status of having eliminated measles.
A vast majority of this year’s cases are from Texas, where a major outbreak raged through the late winter and spring. Other states with active outbreaks — which the CDC defines as three or more related cases — include Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Utah.
There have been three deaths in the U.S. this year, and all were unvaccinated: two elementary school-aged children in West Texas and an adult in New Mexico.
North America has three other large outbreaks. The longest, in Ontario, Canada, has resulted in 2,244 cases from mid-October through July 8. The province logged its first death June 5 in a baby who got congenital measles but also had other preexisting conditions.
Another outbreak in Alberta, Canada, has sickened 1,323 as of Tuesday. And the Mexican state of Chihuahua had 3,129 measles cases and eight deaths as of Tuesday, according to data from the state health ministry.
Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that’s airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. It is preventable through vaccines and has been considered eliminated from the U.S. since 2000.
How many measles cases are there in Texas?
Texas reported 762 measles cases on Tuesday — nine new cases in a week — across 36 counties, most of them in West Texas.
Throughout the outbreak, 99 people have been hospitalized. State health officials estimated less than 1% of cases — fewer than 10 — were actively infectious as of Tuesday.
Statewide, only Lamar County has ongoing measles transmission, officials said. In total, though, more than half of Texas’ cases (414) have been in Gaines County, where the virus started spreading in a close-knit, undervaccinated Mennonite community.
The April 3 death in Texas was an 8-year-old child, according to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Local health officials said the child did not have underlying health conditions and died of “what the child’s doctor described as measles pulmonary failure.” A unvaccinated child with no underlying conditions died of measles in Texas in late February; Kennedy said the child was 6.
How many measles cases are there in New Mexico?
New Mexico stayed steady at 95 measles cases on Tuesday.
While most of the state’s cases are in Lea County, 14 cases are tied to an outbreak in a jail in Luna County.
An unvaccinated adult died of measles-related illness March 6. The person did not seek medical care. Seven people have been hospitalized since the state’s outbreak started.
San Juan, Eddy, Chaves, Curry, Doña Ana and Sandoval counties also had measles cases this year.
How many cases are there in Oklahoma?
Oklahoma held steady a second week at 17 confirmed and three probable cases.
The state health department is not releasing which counties have cases.
How many cases are there in Arizona?
Arizona has four cases in Navajo County. They are linked to a single source, the county health department said June 9. All four were unvaccinated and had a history of recent international travel.
How many cases are there in Colorado?
Colorado has been at a steady 16 measles cases for a few weeks, including one outbreak of 10 related cases.
The outbreak is linked to a Turkish Airlines flight that landed at Denver International Airport in mid-May. Four of the people were on the flight with the first person diagnosed — an out-of-state traveler not included in the state count — while five got measles from exposure in the airport and one elsewhere.
Other counties that have seen measles this year include Archuleta, Boulder and Pueblo.
How many cases are there in Georgia?
Georgia has an outbreak of three cases in metro Atlanta, with the most recent infection confirmed June 18.
The state has confirmed six total cases in 2025. The remaining three are part of an unrelated outbreak from January.
How many cases are there in Illinois?
The outbreak in far southern Illinois is over, health officials said last week. All told, there were eight cases in that outbreak.
The state’s other two cases were unrelated, and in Cook County.
How many cases are there in Iowa?
Iowa announced another measles case on Monday, bringing the state’s total to seven in 2025. The state health department said the new case isn’t linked to others in the state, and occurred in a person who was fully vaccinated.
The outbreak in eastern Johnson County involves four cases in members of the same household.
How many cases are there in Kansas?
Kansas added three more cases this week for a total of 90 across 11 counties in the southwestern part of the state, with eight hospitalizations. All but three of the cases are connected, and most are in Gray County.
How many measles cases are there in Kentucky?
Kentucky has 13 cases this year.
Central Kentucky’s outbreak rose to nine cases as of Tuesday. The cases are in Fayette County, which includes Lexington, and neighboring Woodford County.
Kentucky health officials announced a new case in Jefferson County on Monday. The mayor’s office said Tuesday that it’s an adolescent who traveled internationally to an area with an outbreak. Their vaccination status isn’t known.
How many cases are there in Michigan?
The state has had 18 cases total in 2025; eight are linked to outbreaks.
In northern Michigan, Grand Traverse County has an outbreak of four cases as of Wednesday. An earlier outbreak of four cases in Montcalm County was declared over on June 2.
How many cases are there in Missouri?
Missouri stayed steady with seven cases as of Wednesday.
Five cases are in southwestern Cedar County, and four of those are members of the same family. The fifth case is still under investigation, according to county health director Victoria Barker.
How many cases are there in Montana?
Montana was steady on Wednesday with 25 measles. Seventeen were in Gallatin County, which is where the first cases showed up — Montana’s first in 35 years.
Flathead and Yellowstone counties had two cases each, and Hill County had four cases.
There are outbreaks in neighboring North Dakota and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
How many cases are there in North Dakota?
The state’s health department confirmed that outbreaks in Williams, Grand Forks and Cass counties are over.
But the state’s count grew to 36 for the year, adding one case in Williams County that was infectious in May, but not confirmed until this week.
The other case is new and also in Williams County. When it was announced late last week, state vaccine official Jenny Galbraith said it was believed to have been from out-of-state travel, wasn’t connected to the county’s past outbreak and that there was “no evidence of community spread.”
Counties that have seen cases this year include Williams with 18, Grand Forks with 10, Cass with seven and Burke with one.
How many cases are there in Utah?
Utah’s measles case count rose by one to 10 as of Tuesday.
At least three of the cases are linked, the state health department said last week. State epidemiologist Dr. Leisha Nolen has said there are at least three different measles clusters in the state.
Where else is measles showing up in the U.S.?
Measles cases also have been reported this year in Alaska, Arkansas, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.
Earlier outbreaks in Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee are over.
Cases and outbreaks in the U.S. are frequently traced to someone who caught the disease abroad. The CDC said in May that more than twice as many measles have come from outside of the U.S. compared to May of last year. Most of those are in unvaccinated Americans returning home.
What do you need to know about the MMR vaccine?
The best way to avoid measles is to get the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. The first shot is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old and the second between 4 and 6 years old.
Getting another MMR shot as an adult is harmless if there are concerns about waning immunity, the CDC says. People who have documentation of receiving a live measles vaccine in the 1960s don’t need to be revaccinated, but people who were immunized before 1968 with an ineffective vaccine made from “killed” virus should be revaccinated with at least one dose, the agency said.
People who have documentation that they had measles are immune and those born before 1957 generally don’t need the shots because so many children got measles back then that they have “presumptive immunity.”
Measles has a harder time spreading through communities with high vaccination rates — above 95% — due to “herd immunity.” But childhood vaccination rates have declined nationwide since the pandemic and more parents are claiming religious or personal conscience waivers to exempt their kids from required shots.
What are the symptoms of measles?
Measles first infects the respiratory tract, then spreads throughout the body, causing a high fever, runny nose, cough, red, watery eyes and a rash.
The rash generally appears three to five days after the first symptoms, beginning as flat red spots on the face and then spreading downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet. When the rash appears, the fever may spike over 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the CDC.
Most kids will recover from measles, but infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and death.
How can you treat measles?
There’s no specific treatment for measles, so doctors generally try to alleviate symptoms, prevent complications and keep patients comfortable.
July 9, 2025:
UNDATED-AP- The U.S. is having its worst year for measles spread in more than three decades, with a total of 1,288 cases nationally and another six months to go in 2025.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday (July 9, 2025) that the national case count surpassed 2019, when there were 1,274 cases for the year and the country almost lost its status of having eliminated the vaccine-preventable illness. That could happen this year if the virus has nonstop spread for 12 months.
This year’s outbreaks, some of them interconnected, started five months ago in undervaccinated communities in West Texas. Three people have died — two children in Texas and an adult in New Mexico — and dozens of people have been hospitalized. Public health experts maintain the true case count may be higher than state health departments have confirmed.
North America has three other major measles outbreaks, with 2,966 cases in Chihuahua state, Mexico, 2,223 cases in Ontario, Canada and 1,230 in Alberta, Canada. Thirteen other states have current confirmed outbreaks of three or more people — Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Utah — and four other states saw their outbreaks end.
The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is 97% effective at preventing measles after two doses.
The World Health Organization said in 2000 that measles had been eliminated from the U.S.
The CDC identified 22 outbreaks in 2019, the largest being two separate clusters in New York — 412 in New York state and 702 in New York City. These were linked because as measles was spreading through close-knit Orthodox Jewish communities, the CDC said.
It’s a similar situation in North America this year, where the Canada, Mexico and Texas outbreaks stem from large Mennonite communities in the regions. Mennonite churches do not formally discourage vaccination, though more conservative Mennonite communities historically have low vaccination rates and a distrust of government.
A recent study found childhood vaccination rates against measles fell after the COVID-19 pandemic in nearly 80% of the more than 2,000 U.S. counties with available data, including in states that are battling outbreaks this year.
Only 92.7% of kindergarteners in the U.S. had the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in the 2023-2024 school year, below the 95% needed to prevent outbreaks. In Gaines County, Texas, the epicenter of the Texas outbreak, only 82% of kindergarteners were up-to-date with MMR vaccines.
State and federal leaders have for years kept funding stagnant for local public health departments’ vaccination programs that are tasked with reversing the trend.
“What we’re seeing with measles is a little bit of a ‘canary in a coal mine,'” said Lauren Gardner, leader of Johns Hopkins University’s independent measles and COVID tracking databases. “It’s indicative of a problem that we know exists with vaccination attitudes in this county and just, I think, likely to get worse.”
June 21, 2025:
UNDATED-AP- The U.S. is up to 1,214 confirmed measles cases this year. Iowa has its first outbreak. Other states with active outbreaks include Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Georgia, Kansas, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota and Oklahoma. Two elementary school-aged children and an adult have died from measles this year. Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that’s airborne. It is preventable through vaccines and has been considered eliminated from the U.S. since 2000.
Story
UNDATED-AP- The U.S. logged fewer than 20 measles cases this week, though Iowa announced the state’s first outbreak Thursday (June 19, 2025) and Georgia confirmed its second Wednesday.
There have been 1,214 confirmed measles cases this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. Health officials in Texas, where the nation’s biggest outbreak raged during the late winter and spring, confirmed six cases in the last week.
There are three other major outbreaks in North America. The longest, in Ontario, Canada, has resulted in 2,179 cases from mid-October through June 17. The province logged its first death June 5 in a baby who got congenital measles but also had other preexisting conditions.
Another outbreak in Alberta, Canada, has sickened 996 as of Thursday. And the Mexican state of Chihuahua had 2,335 measles cases and four deaths as of Friday, according to data from the state health ministry.
Other U.S. states with active outbreaks — which the CDC defines as three or more related cases — include Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota and Oklahoma.
In the U.S., two elementary school-aged children in the epicenter in West Texas and an adult in New Mexico have died of measles this year. All were unvaccinated.
Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that’s airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. It is preventable through vaccines and has been considered eliminated from the U.S. since 2000.
How many measles cases are there in Texas?
There are a total of 750 cases across 35 counties, most of them in West Texas, state health officials said Tuesday.
Throughout the outbreak, 97 people have been hospitalized.
State health officials estimated less than 1% of cases — fewer than 10 — are actively infectious. Fifty-five percent of Texas’ cases are in Gaines County, where the virus started spreading in a close-knit, undervaccinated Mennonite community. The county has had 413 cases since late January — just under 2% of its residents.
The April 3 death in Texas was an 8-year-old child, according to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Local health officials said the child did not have underlying health conditions and died of “what the child’s doctor described as measles pulmonary failure.” A unvaccinated child with no underlying conditions died of measles in Texas in late February; Kennedy said the child was 6.
How many measles cases are there in New Mexico?
New Mexico held steady Friday with a total of 81 cases.
Seven people have been hospitalized since the outbreak started. Most of the state’s cases are in Lea County. Sandoval County near Albuquerque has six cases, Eddy County has three, Doña Ana County has two. Chaves, Curry and San Juan counties have one each.
An unvaccinated adult died of measles-related illness March 6. The person did not seek medical care.
How many cases are there in Oklahoma?
Oklahoma added one case Friday for a total of 17 confirmed and three probable cases.
The state health department is not releasing which counties have cases.
How many cases are there in Arizona?
Arizona has four cases in Navajo County. They are linked to a single source, the county health department said June 9. All four were unvaccinated and had a history of recent international travel.
How many cases are there in Colorado?
Colorado has seen a total of 16 measles cases in 2025, which includes one outbreak of 10 related cases.
The outbreak is linked to a Turkish Airlines flight that landed at Denver International Airport in mid-May. Four of the people were on the flight with the first case — an out-of-state traveler not included in the state count — while five got measles from exposure in the airport and one elsewhere.
Health officials are also tracking an unrelated case in a Boulder County resident. The person was fully vaccinated but had “recently traveled to Europe, where there are a large number of measles cases,” the state health department said.
Other counties that have seen measles this year include Archuleta and Pueblo.
How many cases are there in Georgia?
Georgia has an outbreak of three cases in metro Atlanta, with the most recent infection confirmed Wednesday.
The state has confirmed six total cases in 2025. The remaining three are part of an unrelated outbreak from January.
How many cases are there in Illinois?
Illinois health officials confirmed a four-case outbreak on May 5 in the far southern part of the state. It grew to eight cases as of June 6, but no new cases were reported in the following weeks, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
The state’s other two cases so far this year were in Cook County, and are unrelated to the southern Illinois outbreak.
How many cases are there in Iowa?
Iowa has had six total measles cases in 2025.
Four are part of an outbreak in eastern Johnson County, among members of the same household. County health officials said the people are isolating at home, so they don’t expect additional spread.
How many cases are there in Kansas?
Kansas has a total of 79 cases across 11 counties in the southwestern part of the state, with three hospitalizations. All but three of the cases are connected, and most are in Gray County.
How many cases are there in Montana?
Montana had 22 measles cases as of Friday. Fourteen were in Gallatin County, which is where the first cases showed up — Montana’s first in 35 years.
Flathead and Yellowstone counties had two cases each, and Hill County had four cases.
There are outbreaks in neighboring North Dakota and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
How many cases are there in North Dakota?
North Dakota, which hadn’t seen measles since 2011, was up to 34 cases as of June 6, but has held steady since. Two of the people have been hospitalized. All of the people with confirmed cases were not vaccinated.
There were 16 cases in Williams County in western North Dakota on the Montana border. On the eastern side of the state, there were 10 cases in Grand Forks County and seven cases in Cass County. Burke County, in northwest North Dakota on the border of Saskatchewan, Canada, had one case.
Where else is measles showing up in the U.S.?
Measles cases also have been reported this year in Alaska, Arkansas, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
Health officials declared earlier outbreaks in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania over after six weeks of no new cases. Tennessee’s outbreak also appears to be over.
Cases and outbreaks in the U.S. are frequently traced to someone who caught the disease abroad. The CDC said in May that more than twice as many measles have come from outside of the U.S. compared to May of last year. Most of those are in unvaccinated Americans returning home. In 2019, the U.S. saw 1,274 cases and almost lost its status of having eliminated measles.
What do you need to know about the MMR vaccine?
The best way to avoid measles is to get the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. The first shot is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old and the second between 4 and 6 years old.
Getting another MMR shot as an adult is harmless if there are concerns about waning immunity, the CDC says. People who have documentation of receiving a live measles vaccine in the 1960s don’t need to be revaccinated, but people who were immunized before 1968 with an ineffective vaccine made from “killed” virus should be revaccinated with at least one dose, the agency said.
People who have documentation that they had measles are immune and those born before 1957 generally don’t need the shots because so many children got measles back then that they have “presumptive immunity.”
Measles has a harder time spreading through communities with high vaccination rates — above 95% — due to “herd immunity.” But childhood vaccination rates have declined nationwide since the pandemic and more parents are claiming religious or personal conscience waivers to exempt their kids from required shots.
What are the symptoms of measles?
Measles first infects the respiratory tract, then spreads throughout the body, causing a high fever, runny nose, cough, red, watery eyes and a rash.
The rash generally appears three to five days after the first symptoms, beginning as flat red spots on the face and then spreading downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet. When the rash appears, the fever may spike over 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the CDC.
Most kids will recover from measles, but infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and death.
How can you treat measles?
There’s no specific treatment for measles, so doctors generally try to alleviate symptoms, prevent complications and keep patients comfortable.
June 17, 2025:
UNDATED (AP)- The U.S. logged fewer than 30 measles cases last week as Ohio health officials confirmed three outbreaks in two counties were over.
There have been 1,197 confirmed measles cases this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday (June 13, 2025). Health officials in Texas, where the nation’s biggest outbreak raged during the late winter and spring, confirmed two cases in the last week.
There are three other major outbreaks in North America. The longest, in Ontario, Canada, has resulted in 2,083 cases from mid-October through June 10. The province logged its first death June 5 in a baby who got congenital measles but also had other preexisting conditions.
Another outbreak in Alberta, Canada, has sickened 868 as of Thursday. And the Mexican state of Chihuahua had 2,179 measles cases and four deaths as of Friday, according to data from the state health ministry.
Other U.S. states with active outbreaks — which the CDC defines as three or more related cases — include Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota and Oklahoma.
In the U.S., two elementary school-aged children in the epicenter in West Texas and an adult in New Mexico have died of measles this year. All were unvaccinated.
Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that’s airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. It is preventable through vaccines, and has been considered eliminated from the U.S. since 2000.
How many measles cases are there in Texas?
There are a total of 744 cases across 35 counties, most of them in West Texas, state health officials said Tuesday.
Throughout the outbreak, 96 people have been hospitalized.
State health officials estimated less than 1% of cases — fewer than 10 — are actively infectious. Fifty-five percent of Texas’ cases are in Gaines County, where the virus started spreading in a close-knit, undervaccinated Mennonite community. The county has had 411 cases since late January — just under 2% of the county’s residents.
The April 3 death in Texas was an 8-year-old child, according to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Local health officials said the child did not have underlying health conditions and died of “what the child’s doctor described as measles pulmonary failure.” A unvaccinated child with no underlying conditions died of measles in Texas in late February; Kennedy said the child was 6.
How many measles cases are there in New Mexico?
New Mexico held steady Friday with a total of 81 cases.
Seven people have been hospitalized since the outbreak started. Most of the state’s cases are in Lea County. Sandoval County near Albuquerque has six cases, Eddy County has three, Doña Ana County has two. Chaves, Curry and San Juan counties have one each.
An unvaccinated adult died of measles-related illness March 6. The person did not seek medical care.
How many cases are there in Oklahoma?
Oklahoma stayed steady Friday with a total of 16 confirmed and three probable cases.
The state health department is not releasing which counties have cases.
How many cases are there in Arizona?
Arizona has four cases in Navajo County. They are linked to a single source, the county health department said June 9. All four were unvaccinated and had a history of recent international travel.
How many cases are there in Colorado?
Colorado has seen a total of 15 measles cases in 2025, which includes one outbreak of eight related cases.
The outbreak is linked to a Turkish Airlines flight that landed at Denver International Airport in mid-May, and includes four cases in Arapahoe County, three in El Paso County and one in Denver, plus a person who doesn’t live in Colorado.
Health officials confirmed an unrelated case Friday in a Boulder County resident. The person was fully vaccinated but had “recently traveled to Europe, where there are a large number of measles cases,” the state health department said. Officials are monitoring exposures sites in Boulder and Denver.
Other counties that have seen measles this year include Archuleta and Pueblo.
How many cases are there in Illinois?
Illinois health officials confirmed a four-case outbreak on May 5 in the far southern part of the state. It grew to eight cases as of June 6, but no new cases were reported in the following week, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
The state’s other two cases so far this year were in Cook County, and are unrelated to the southern Illinois outbreak.
How many cases are there in Kansas?
Kansas has a total of 76 cases across 11 counties in the southwestern part of the state, with three hospitalizations. All but two of the cases are connected, and most are in Gray County.
How many cases are there in Montana?
Montana had 20 measles cases as of Tuesday. Twelve were in Gallatin County, which is where the first cases showed up — Montana’s first in 35 years.
Flathead and Yellowstone counties had two cases each, and Hill County had four cases.
There are outbreaks in neighboring North Dakota and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
How many cases are there in North Dakota?
North Dakota, which hadn’t seen measles since 2011, was up to 34 cases as of June 6, but has held steady since. Two of the people have been hospitalized, and all of the people with confirmed cases were not vaccinated.
There were 16 cases in Williams County in western North Dakota on the Montana border. On the eastern side of the state, there were 10 cases in Grand Forks County and seven cases in Cass County. Burke County, in northwest North Dakota on the border of Saskatchewan, Canada, had one case.
Where else is measles showing up in the U.S.?
Measles cases also have been reported this year in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
Earlier outbreaks in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania were declared over by health officials after six weeks of no new cases. Tennessee’s outbreak also appears to be over.
Cases and outbreaks in the U.S. are frequently traced to someone who caught the disease abroad. The CDC said in May that more than twice as many measles have come from outside of the U.S. compared to May of last year, and most of those are in unvaccinated Americans returning home. In 2019, the U.S. saw 1,274 cases and almost lost its status of having eliminated measles.
What do you need to know about the MMR vaccine?
The best way to avoid measles is to get the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. The first shot is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old and the second between 4 and 6 years old.
Getting another MMR shot as an adult is harmless if there are concerns about waning immunity, the CDC says. People who have documentation of receiving a live measles vaccine in the 1960s don’t need to be revaccinated, but people who were immunized before 1968 with an ineffective vaccine made from “killed” virus should be revaccinated with at least one dose, the agency said.
People who have documentation that they had measles are immune, and those born before 1957 generally don’t need the shots because so many children got measles back then that they have “presumptive immunity.”
Measles has a harder time spreading through communities with high vaccination rates — above 95% — due to “herd immunity.” But childhood vaccination rates have declined nationwide since the pandemic and more parents are claiming religious or personal conscience waivers to exempt their kids from required shots.
What are the symptoms of measles?
Measles first infects the respiratory tract, then spreads throughout the body, causing a high fever, runny nose, cough, red, watery eyes and a rash.
The rash generally appears three to five days after the first symptoms, beginning as flat red spots on the face and then spreading downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet. When the rash appears, the fever may spike over 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the CDC.
Most kids will recover from measles, but infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and death.
How can you treat measles?
There’s no specific treatment for measles, so doctors generally try to alleviate symptoms, prevent complications and keep patients comfortable.
May 27, 2025:
Story Body
May 16, 2025:
UNDATED (AP)- New Mexico announced two new measles cases Thursday (May 15, 2025) and North Dakota added one.
The U.S. surpassed 1,000 measles cases Friday. Texas still accounts for the vast majority of cases in an outbreak that also spread measles to New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas. Two unvaccinated elementary school-aged children died from measles-related illnesses in the epicenter in West Texas, and an adult in New Mexico who was not vaccinated died of a measles-related illness.
Other states with active outbreaks — which the CDC defines as three or more related cases — include Indiana, Michigan, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.
North America has three other ongoing outbreaks. One outbreak in Ontario, Canada, has resulted in 1,440 cases from mid-October through May 6 — up 197 cases in the last reported week. Alberta, Canada, also has a growing outbreak that has sickened almost 400 as of May 14. And the Mexican state of Chihuahua had 1,194 measles cases and one death as of Wednesday, according to data from the state health ministry.
Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that’s airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. It is preventable through vaccines, and has been considered eliminated from the U.S. since 2000.
As the virus takes hold in U.S. communities with low vaccination rates, health experts fear that spread could stretch on for a year. Here’s what else you need to know about measles in the U.S.
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