The U.S. has recorded 4,410 confirmed measles cases this year, and the CDC is sending staff to Pennsylvania, where the nation’s largest outbreak has caused five confirmed measles-associated deaths.
Here are four outbreak updates to know:
- National count: The CDC confirmed 4,410 cases as of Oct. 15, up 330 from the 4,080 reported a week earlier, an 8% increase and more than the 285 cases in all of 2024. There have been 42 new outbreaks this year, and 96% of patients were unvaccinated or had unknown vaccination status. About 10% have been hospitalized, and the CDC has confirmed two deaths. Last year’s total was 2,289 cases.
- CDC response: Pennsylvania formally requested CDC assistance through the agency’s Epi-Aid program, and the CDC is sending a “disease detective” to support the state’s response. Pennsylvania has confirmed at least 1,260 cases since its outbreak began in April, the nation’s largest in more than three decades.
- Deaths and counts: Pennsylvania has reported five confirmed measles-associated deaths, while the CDC’s national tally includes two. Pennsylvania is investigating another reported death to determine whether it meets the state’s definition of a measles-associated death. Lawmakers have pressed the CDC director on why Pennsylvania’s deaths were left out of the national tally.
- Other states and clinical impact: Kentucky has confirmed more than 150 cases this year, New York has 126 cases as of Oct. 13, and Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a statewide disaster emergency Oct. 5. Ohio has reported more than 230 cases. In Pennsylvania, pediatric infectious disease specialists are treating previously healthy children with severe complications, including brain inflammation, and all of the children hospitalized at one Hershey children’s hospital were unvaccinated.
Separately, Kenya confirmed four new Ebola cases Oct. 17, bringing its total to seven, according to an Oct. 17 report from The New York Times. The new infections include a relative of the first patient and three health workers who treated him. Kenya’s first case was announced Oct. 6 in a man who died after arriving from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Health Ministry said most people at risk have been traced and quarantined and that there is no evidence of community transmission. The Congo outbreak, now the second largest on record, has infected more than 9,200 people and killed more than 4,400. All Kenyan cases involve the Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no approved vaccine or accepted treatment.
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