Three months into 2025, US measles cases surpass total for 2024

Three months into 2025, the United States has surpassed the total number of measles cases in the country for all of last year.

Three months into 2025, the United States has surpassed the total number of measles cases in the country for all of last year. The high number of cases is driven by a multistate outbreak that has reached nearly 300 cases. As of Friday, Texas has reported 259 cases this year, New Mexico has tallied 35 cases and Oklahoma reported two. Experts say this is probably a severe undercount. In 2024, there were 285 total measles cases reported in the US, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A CNN tally suggests that there have been at least 318 cases so far in 2025, including 296 associated with the multistate outbreak. “As I’m seeing this outbreak unfold, it brings me back to the year 2000 when the United States declared that measles was eradicated from our country,” said Dr. Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “The split screen of what’s happening now and the fact that it was deemed to be eradicated 25 years ago, I think highlights the deterioration of proven preventative measures,” he said. “And the current outbreak might be larger than we currently realize.” In the years since measles was declared eliminated in the US, there have been an average of about 179 cases reported each year. There have been an average of about eight outbreaks per year – ranging from one to 25 annually – and most years at least 60% of all reported cases have been tied to outbreaks. But the worst outbreaks each year typically stay under 50 cases.