U.S. measles cases top 4,000, far surpassing last year’s total, CDC says

The record number of measles cases in the U.S. so far this year has topped 4,000, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday. 

The agency said there were 4,080 confirmed measles cases across the country as of Thursday.

The cases have far surpassed 2025’s total number of cases, which was 2,289. Last year had seen the most cases in three decades.

Most states and Washington, D.C., have reported cases of the contagious disease.

This week, Pennsylvania surpassed 1,000 total cases this year after reporting on Wednesday 145 new cases.

According to Pennsylvania’s Health Department, there have been five measles-associated deaths in the state this year. The state considers a death to be associated with measles when a person dies within 30 days of experiencing symptoms with clinical evidence of an infection and a positive lab test, and when the death isn’t due to unrelated causes like a car accident.

In neighboring New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul declared an emergency Monday over the increasing number of measles cases in the region. Hochul issued an executive order allowing more healthcare professionals to administer measles vaccines and letting nurses order testing, according to the governor’s office.

According to the CDC, 95% of patients nationwide this year were unvaccinated against the disease or their vaccination status was not known. About 2% of patients had received one dose of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, and another 2% had received two doses.

Measles symptoms typically appear between one and two weeks after people come in contact with the disease, according to the CDC. The initial symptoms include high fever, cough, runny nose, and red, watery eyes.