Measles surge in Utah sparks fears US could undo decades of progress and jeopardize elimination status

A measles outbreak has sparked fears that the virus may entrench itself in the US after Utah saw over 600 cases lasting more than a year. 

The state reached a worrying total of 679 cases, marking the latest and longest-lasting series of measles outbreaks in the US since last year as health officials panic. 

State health officials have said that the belief is that the outbreak is the result of a continuous spread since at least August, the Wall Street Journal reported. 

‘This outbreak is the product of years of miscommunication and misinformation,’ Dr Trahern Jones, a pediatric infectious disease specialist in Utah, told the outlet.   

The outbreaks saw reported exposures at a high-school wrestling championship tournament in February, which exacerbated the spread across the state, as well as elementary schools, churches, an aquarium, Walmart stores, a ski resort, a youth gymnastics meet and doctors offices. 

The outbreak follows data showing that measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccinations fell nearly ten percent over the last 13 years, according to the Journal. 

Jones added that while the families of those affected were not necessarily passionate anti-vaxxers, many either did not understand the severity of the disease or believed that vaccinations would cause autism. 

‘You can see in a mother’s eyes; the regret and the same and the embarrassment and the fear,’ Jones told the outlet. 

The outbreak follows data showing that measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccinations fell nearly ten percent over the last 13 years

‘You don’t want families to go through the hell of vaccine-preventable disease to get them to vaccinate.’

Many vaccinations, such as the MMR, are required by the state of Utah in order to enroll children in schools. However, parents can choose to opt out due to religious of personal reasons. 

Around ten percent of the state’s kindergartners were nonmedically exempt from one or more vaccines in the 2024/2025 school year – marking the second highest in the country behind Idaho, according to the CDC. 

‘It hit hardest in communities that had relatively low vaccination rates and relatively limited public health departments,’ Andrew Pavia, a George and Esther Gross presidential professor at the University of Utah, told the Guardian.  

Utah’s local health departments don’t operate as part of the state and, according to Southwest Utah Public Health Department spokesperson David Heaton, parents were incredibly reluctant to vaccinate their children.

While many were asked to keep their children at home if there was a possibility that they had been exposed to the disease, Heaton said the decision was left to parents and compliance was not able to be measured. 

Ben Dowse, a pediatric nurse in Utah, recalled delivering a newborn that had become exposed to the disease in their mother’s womb. Measles can cause brain damage, deafness or death in newborns, WIRED reported. 

As he delivered the child, who luckily appeared healthy, and sought to administer antibodies against the virus  to the newborn, the parents objected much to his surprise.

Many vaccinations, such as the MMR, are required by the state of Utah to enroll children in schools. However, parents can choose to opt out due to religious of personal reasons

Dowse told WIRED that the child’s parents instead reassured the pediatric nurse that the baby would be given ‘all kinds of vitamin A’ and, despite the doctor’s protest, the family went home from the hospital. 

‘I wish that people could see what I see,’ Nathan Money, a hospital pediatrician in Utah, told the outlet. 

‘This train is going in the wrong direction, and it can feel like a helpless situation, because we’re just not seeing the public messaging and leadership that’s needed to turn this around.’  

Nationwide cases of measles reached 2,288 in 2025, marking the highest recorded number since 1991, the Journal reported. However, the first few months of 2026 are projecting that numbers will increase again, as a total  of 2,073 cases of measles have already been reported so far this year. 

Utah saw a fresh case of the measles reported last week by the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, according to the outlet. 

In order for the state to determine if the outbreak has ended, no new cases can be reported for the length of two incubation periods, or over 42 days.  

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has launched an assessment of the situation to determine if any outbreaks lasted over 12 months, which would jeopardize the nation’s 2000s measles elimination status.

A Pan American Health Organization meeting is set to take place in November to determine where the US’s status stands. 

Nationwide cases of measles reached 2,288 in 2025, marking the highest recorded number since 1991. However, the first few months of 2026 are projecting that numbers will increase again, as a total of 2,073 cases of measles have already been reported so far this year

Measles spreads through direct contact with infectious droplets or through the air. Patients with a measles infection are contagious from four days before the rash through four days after the rash appears

Outbreaks also cropped up in Texas in January 2025, which state officials marked as over by August later that year, and South Carolina where hundreds of students were quarantined out of school at a time following possible exposure, according to the outlet. 

South Carolina declared its outbreak over in April, and the state’s Spartanburg County saw a 162 percent rise in vaccinations in January, the Guardian reported. 

Pavia told the outlet that Utah’s outbreak differs from Texas and South Carolina after the disease was seen to have spread state-wide. 

‘Some of these small health departments are very stressed for personnel, funds and training, particularly after the massive cuts that the administration made to pass through money that went to state and local health departments – I think it was $11bn they took away,’ he said. 

Measles is incredibly contagious, and spreads that much faster in those who are unvaccinated, and hard to battle in an under-funded public health system. 

‘If you’re in the thick of it, and you don’t know if you will be reimbursed, you adjust your response,’ Angela Dunn, a doctor and former Utah state epidemiologist, told WIRED. 

‘This outbreak is a perfect storm of disinformation, trauma from the Covid pandemic, and the drop in funding.’

So far this year, the CDC has recorded 127 hospitalizations, with no deaths reported yet, the Sun reported. Around one in five children who become infected require hospitalization, with one in 15 progressing to more serious complications such as meningitis or sepsis.

Around 95 percent of the population requires a vaccination against the disease to prevent outbreaks, officials said. 

Measles spreads through direct contact with infectious droplets or through the air. Patients with a measles infection are contagious from four days before the rash through four days after the rash appears. Enclosed areas like airports and planes are extremely risky locations for disease transmission.

It first invades the respiratory system, then spreads to the lymph nodes and throughout the body. As a result, the virus can affect the lungs, brain and central nervous system.

Before MMR vaccines became available in the 1960s, measles caused epidemics with up to 2.6 million global deaths every year. By 2023, that number had fallen to roughly 107,000 deaths.