US measles cases reach 5,182 as PAHO weighs elimination status

The Pan American Health Organization is set to review this month whether the United States has lost its measles elimination status, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counts 5,182 confirmed cases in 2026, more than double the 2,289 confirmed in all of 2025.

The CDC’s measles data page, updated Nov. 6, reports the 5,182 cases as of Nov. 5. Of those, 5,164 were reported by 47 jurisdictions and 18 were among international visitors. The CDC lists 43 new outbreaks in 2026 and says 96% of cases, or 4,993 of 5,182, are linked to outbreaks: 3,608 to outbreaks that began in 2026 and 1,385 to outbreaks that began in 2025. It lists four deaths and marks that figure as subject to change.

For all of 2025, the CDC confirmed 2,289 cases and 48 outbreaks. About 90% of those cases, 2,066 of 2,289, were outbreak-associated.

PAHO’s Regional Verification Commission is an independent technical body that reports to the PAHO Director. In an update dated March 2, 2026, PAHO said the review of the United States and Mexico would take place in November 2026, during the commission’s regular annual meeting.

The test is genetic, not a count of cases. PAHO defines re-established endemic transmission as the same virus genotype and lineage circulating uninterrupted for 12 months or more in a specific area. For the United States, PAHO set the analysis period as one year from the onset of the outbreaks on Jan. 20, 2025. For Mexico, the start date is Feb. 1, 2025.

The commission presents recommendations to the PAHO Director, who then formally tells national authorities the classification, according to PAHO. A decision may therefore be announced after the meeting. PAHO said in November 2025 that the commission had concluded endemic transmission was re-established in Canada, which caused the Americas to lose their status as free of endemic measles transmission.

Medical Daily, citing CDC data, reported that 562 patients have been hospitalized, about 11% of cases. It reported that adults 20 and older account for 2,132 cases, passing the roughly 2,100 cases among people 5 to 19, who had been the largest group a week earlier. The outlet reported that the national count rose by 330 cases, or 6.8%, from the prior week, after an increase of 264 cases the week before.

Pennsylvania has the most cases of any state, with 1,487 confirmed across 45 counties as of Nov. 6, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health as cited by Medical Daily. Wisconsin is second with 431 cases as of Nov. 3. Medical Daily cited Reuters in reporting that about 96% of patients were unvaccinated or had an unknown vaccination status. In Pennsylvania, five of the 1,487 cases were in vaccinated people, and state health officials say two MMR doses provide about 97% protection.

The CDC reports that kindergarten MMR coverage was 92.4% in the 2025-2026 school year, down from 95.2% in 2019-2020.

CIDRAP, the infectious disease news service at the University of Minnesota, reported that at least eight people in the United States have died of measles complications this year, while the CDC has confirmed four. CIDRAP reported that a Wisconsin baby’s death was the third U.S. measles death in a single week, that a New York child’s death was the first in that state in 30 years, and that Pennsylvania reported a second death, in Jefferson County.

The CDC page states the confirmed total of four deaths is subject to change. The PAHO commission had not announced a classification for the United States as of Nov. 9.