{"id":23680,"date":"2026-07-25T19:15:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T19:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/us-measles-outbreak-is-worst-in-35-years-as-cases-surge-past-2300-official-data-shows\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T19:15:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T19:15:23","slug":"us-measles-outbreak-is-worst-in-35-years-as-cases-surge-past-2300-official-data-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/us-measles-outbreak-is-worst-in-35-years-as-cases-surge-past-2300-official-data-shows\/","title":{"rendered":"US measles outbreak is worst in 35 years as cases surge past 2,300, official data shows"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
<\/div>\n

WASHINGTON, July 25 — The United States is in the midst of its worst measles outbreak in 35 years, according to official figures released yesterday, amid a serious uptick in cases as vaccine hesitancy grows.<\/p>\n

Since 2026 began, 2,318 confirmed cases of the highly contagious illness have been recorded, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n

That surpasses the total for 2025, a year that had already shattered records, with 2,289 cases and three deaths including two young children.<\/p>\n

“We are witnessing an avoidable crisis that disproportionally hurts children,” said Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics.<\/p>\n

“We should not accept this as our new normal.”<\/p>\n

Measles causes fever, respiratory symptoms and skin rashes.<\/p>\n

News :<\/span><div>12 weeks' jail for school IT support technician who took upskirt videos of teachers<\/div><\/span><\/a><\/div>

In some cases, it can also lead to more severe complications including pneumonia and brain inflammation, which can lead to serious long-term impacts and death.<\/p>\n

In 2000, measles was declared eradicated in the United States, thanks to vaccination.<\/p>\n

But it has made a strong comeback in recent years against a backdrop of declining vaccination rates and growing distrust in health authorities.<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, is accused of contributing significantly to the crisis by spreading anti-vaccine sentiment and fueling fears of well-studied and proven immunisations.<\/p>\n

The last time the United States experienced such a high number of measles cases was in 1991, when 9,643 cases were recorded.<\/p>\n

Cases began falling dramatically after a two-dose vaccine regimen became the norm.<\/p>\n

News :<\/span>Migrant acquitted in first trial over US border military zones<\/span><\/a><\/div>

Prior to the development of a measles vaccine in the early 1960s, measles killed hundreds of children annually in the United States.<\/p>\n

It continues to claim tens of thousands of lives worldwide.<\/p>\n

Vaccine scepticism and rising cases <\/strong><\/p>\n

The current outbreak in the United States has not been contained.<\/p>\n

Experts expect the number of cases will continue to rise.<\/p>\n

“I definitely believe that there is underdiagnosis,” said Melissa Nolan, a professor of epidemiology at the University of South Carolina — the state that has recorded the highest number of infections this year.<\/p>\n

“When you think about the people who are choosing not to vaccinate their children, these are also the people that have medical hesitancy in general,” she told AFP.<\/p>\n

Although the measles vaccine is mandatory in the US, Americans across much of the country can bypass the rule by citing religious, or sometimes even philosophical, reasons.<\/p>\n

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, these non-medical vaccine exemptions have surged, alongside the explosion in vaccine misinformation and distrust of health authorities.<\/p>\n

In South Carolina, for example, Nolan said “there is a plethora of places that you can go, and a lot of different social media feeds” that “will walk you through how to do the exemption.<\/p>\n

According to a September 2025 poll by The Washington Post and the nonprofit KFF, one in six American parents avoid or delay vaccinating their children over fears of side effects and a lack of trust in health authorities.<\/p>\n

The trend is particularly pronounced among white and conservative communities, and is a source of great concern for medical experts.<\/p>\n

Nolan says the current outbreak is likely only the beginning.<\/p>\n

“Measles is the first one that you tend to see these large outbreaks, because it is the most easily contagious and easily spreadable,” she said.<\/p>\n

And down the line, “I think we’re going to start seeing more and more pertussis cases and just a variety of other vaccine preventable diseases, unfortunately.” — AFP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

US measles outbreak is worst in 35 years as cases surge past 2,300, official data shows<\/sub><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, July 25 — The United States is in the midst of its worst measles outbreak in 35 years, according to official figures released yesterday, amid a serious uptick in cases as vaccine hesitancy grows. Since 2026 began, 2,318 confirmed cases of the highly contagious illness have been recorded, according to the Centers for Disease…<\/p>\n

Read More “US measles outbreak is worst in 35 years as cases surge past 2,300, official data shows”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23681,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}