Over the weekend, the US reached 1,281 measles cases in 2025 – the highest number since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000, and the most we’ve seen since 1992 (2,126 cases).
Thanks to high vaccination rates, we’ve managed to keep the disease at bay, but those rates are slipping. Since measles is the most contagious virus on Earth (that we know of), it’s often the first to resurge when vaccination coverage declines.
A high case count doesn’t automatically mean the US loses its measles elimination status. That is defined by the WHO, and means that measles is not endemic in the US (that is, it doesn’t spread continuously without being sparked by someone traveling internationally and bringing the disease to our shores, usually a US citizen traveling abroad and bringing it home, like some kind of weird souvenier). We only lose that designation if an outbreak lasts more than 12 months – we’re about halfway there.