WASHINGTON: US measles cases have surged to 5,182 so far this year, the highest annual total recorded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 35 years, as the disease continues to spread across the country.

The vast majority of infections were among people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown, accounting for 96 percent of cases in 2026, the CDC’s data showed.

Pennsylvania is the hardest-hit state in the outbreak. Its health department, which updated its data on Friday, reported 1,487 cases and ⁠287 hospitalizations. It ⁠also reported its sixth measles-associated death this week.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported an infant’s death on Thursday, while New York reported its first known measles-associated death in more than 30 years earlier this week.

According to the CDC’s data, which was updated as of Thursday, South ⁠Carolina and Utah recorded the next-highest number of cases at 670 and 536, respectively.

However, the CDC has only recorded four measles-associated deaths in 2026 and has not specified where they occurred. The agency reported three deaths in 2025.

The discrepancy arose after the CDC, under US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., switched from state health departments’ figures to the National Center for Health Statistics’ mortality data to track measles deaths.

Nationwide hospitalizations linked to measles this year stood ⁠at 562, ⁠representing 11 percent of all reported cases, according to the CDC.

People aged 20 and older accounted for 2,132 cases this year, followed by 2,104 cases among those aged 5-19 years and 908 cases in children under 5. There have been 43 new outbreaks reported this year, the CDC said.

Meanwhile, the Pan American Health Organization’s expert commission is expected to decide next week whether the United States still meets the criteria for measles elimination, a status it has held since 2000.