Measles: United States records 5,182 cases, a record since 1991
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Punch
The United States has recorded 5,182 confirmed measles cases since the start of 2026, the highest level since 1991, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least eight deaths linked to the disease, including very young children, have been reported, AFP reports.
The United States has recorded 5,182 confirmed measles cases since the start of 2026, the highest level recorded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the main federal public health agency, since 1991, according to an official count published on Friday. The figure far exceeds the 2,289 cases reported over the whole of 2025.
State health authorities have reported at least eight deaths linked to measles, including those of very young children. The disease, declared eliminated from the United States in 2000 thanks to vaccination, has returned in force in recent years, driven by falling vaccination coverage and growing public distrust of health authorities. Robert Kennedy Jr., Health Secretary to President Donald Trump, is accused of fuelling this distrust: known for his vaccine scepticism, he has repeatedly spread false information about the measles vaccine and played down the dangers of the disease.
Measles causes fever, respiratory symptoms and a skin rash, and sometimes serious complications such as pneumonia or inflammation of the brain, with lasting after-effects or death. Before the vaccine was developed in the early 1960s, it killed hundreds of children every year in the United States, and it continues to cause tens of thousands of deaths worldwide.
