The majority, 92%, occurred in unvaccinated people and children under the age of 19. There have been three confirmed deaths. Though Demetre Daskalakis, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases,

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday tallied the highest number of US measles cases since the disease was declared eliminated a quarter-century ago, just as a key Senate committee split the vote to advance President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the public health agency.

There have now been more measles cases in 2025 than in any other year since the contagious virus was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This year is the worst for measles spread in the U.S. since 1991. The news comes as Missouri has become the 18th state with an outbreak in 2025.

The U.S. is having its worst year for measles spread in more than three decades, with a total of 1,288 cases nationally and another six months to go in 2025.

News of the case was first shared by the South Carolina Department of Health, which said the person was exposed to the virus on an international trip.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the U.S. is currently experiencing its worst measles outbreak in more than 30 years, according to the Associated Press. On Wednesday, the CDC said the 2025 case count has surpassed the 2019 count, when there were 1,274 cases for the year.

"Let that settle in." This surge is "devastating," Claire Hannan, the executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers, told The Washington Post. "We worked so hard to eliminate the threat of measles and to keep it at bay.