Washington (United States) (AFP) – The United States has recorded more than 5,000 cases of measles this year, a level never seen in 35 years for this serious and highly contagious disease which is making a comeback amid growing mistrust of vaccines.

Published on: 06/11/2026 - 21:24

Since the start of 2026, 5,182 confirmed cases have been recorded across the country, according to a count Friday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the main public health agency. Almost all of those infected were unvaccinated.

And eight deaths linked to measles, including very young children, have been reported since August by health authorities in several American states.

“It’s tragic and it could have been completely avoided,” criticizes Adam Ratner, an American pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases, to AFP.

This epidemic, on a scale not seen since 1991, is struggling to make "the headlines" and is not really taken seriously by the Trump administration, he laments.

Although measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000 thanks to vaccination, it has made a comeback in recent years which has accelerated from 2025 and now threatens the epidemiological status of the country.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which is responsible for this matter, must re-evaluate it starting next week, and experts expect that the United States will lose its status as a country that has eliminated measles on this occasion.

Disinformation

The epidemic that is raging today began in 2025 and still seems far from being contained. According to several doctors, the cases are also largely underestimated.

The administration of Donald Trump, which has cut the budgets and staffing of the country's federal health agencies, is strongly criticized for its inaction in the face of this health crisis.

She is also accused of fueling distrust in vaccines that has led to falling vaccination rates and a resurgence of measles.

Donald Trump's Minister of Health, vaccine skeptic Robert Kennedy Jr, has repeatedly relayed false information about the vaccine and minimized the dangerousness of the disease, while questioning the attribution of certain recent deaths.

He "does not consider measles to be a major problem and refuses to believe that there are deaths due to this disease", regrets Doctor Ratner.

Measles causes fever, respiratory symptoms and skin rashes, and in some cases more serious complications, such as pneumonia and inflammation of the brain which can cause serious damage or even death.

Although the measles vaccine is mandatory in the United States, Americans can get around the rule by citing religious or even sometimes philosophical reasons in much of the country.

These exemptions have increased since the Covid-19 pandemic and the explosion of vaccine misinformation and distrust of health authorities.

The resurgence of measles, which is extremely contagious, is only the first sign of this drop in vaccination rates, worry American caregivers.

Adam Ratner says he expects to see cases of whooping cough and chickenpox explode in the years to come. “And the burden of these diseases will fall on children, who are not the ones who make these decisions,” he warns.

© 2026 AFP

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