The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported six measles-related deaths in the United States this year, according to figures posted on its website Thursday, as the country faces its most serious resurgence of the disease in decades.
The newly reported total is double the number of deaths recorded in 2025, highlighting the spread of the highly contagious virus, which was officially declared eliminated in the United States in 2000.
The country is currently experiencing its largest measles outbreak since 1991. More than 5,400 cases have been reported nationwide, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University International Vaccine Access Center.
Pennsylvania has been the state most severely affected by the outbreak, with officials confirming six measles-associated deaths in the state this year. A child also died in New York on Election Day, followed days later by the death of an infant in Wisconsin. Active outbreaks have been reported in almost every US state.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services confirmed the infant’s death, while New York state recorded its first known measles-related death in more than three decades.
The CDC did not identify the states responsible for the six deaths included in its official count.
The difference in reported numbers follows a change in how the CDC, led by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., tracks measles deaths. The CDC now uses data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), which tracks mortality trends over time, according to a memo posted on the agency’s website on September 4.
Kennedy had previously argued, without evidence, that two of the deaths in Pennsylvania may not have been due to measles. He asked Erica Schwartz, director of the CDC, not to count deaths in the official CDC tally, according to a Reuters report. The day after the Reuters report was published, the CDC changed its data source for measles deaths.
Measles is preventable with the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which provides about 97% protection after two doses.
The United States could lose its measles elimination status this week, a development likely to further define Kennedy’s legacy of meddling in vaccine policies. Losing that designation would place the United States alongside Canada and several countries in Europe and Asia where measles had already been eliminated before making a comeback.
Gn Health
