Reported. Based on reported deaths. Each death is reported individually, by the CDC, state health departments or coroners. Methodology last updated .
U.S. measles deaths since January 1, 2025, counted from CDC figures and state and coroner reports, with the rule for which deaths count.
This represents U.S. deaths from measles starting Jan. 1, 2025.
Measles (morbilli, rubeola, 9-day measles, red measles, and English measles) is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by the measles virus.
Measles is airborne, spreading through coughs and sneezes, as well as through direct contact. Without interventions, 90% of people sharing living space with an infected person will become infected, and estimates of its basic reproduction rate indicate that each infected person will infect 12 to 18 others.
The most prominent symptom is a red rash that usually starts on the face and then spreads to the rest of the body. Early symptoms include fever in excess of 104°F (40°C), cough, runny nose, and inflamed eyes. Complications may include diarrhea, middle ear infection, pneumonia, seizures, blindness, and inflammation of the brain. Many complications of measles are caused by the disease's ability to degrade the immune system. There is no cure for measles, but supportive care is helpful.
In healthy and wealthy populations, the case fatality rate is 0.2%, but it soars to 10% in poor populations suffering from malnutrition.
The measles vaccine is safe, effective, and inexpensive, making measles one of the most vaccine-preventable causes of death.
Source: Wikipedia:Measles
Measles was considered eliminated in the United States in 2000, with all new measles cases being traced to foreign sources. 2025 saw the largest outbreak in decades, with 2,289 confirmed cases, almost all in unvaccinated individuals, and three confirmed deaths. 2026 has already surpassed it: 3,294 cases as of Sept. 10, 2026, the highest annual count since elimination, with Pennsylvania's outbreak producing the state's first measles deaths in 35 years.
Source: CDC:Measles Cases and Outbreaks
The figure displayed is calculated in real time as a linear model approximation of mortality figures provided by the CDC, augmented by individual reports of deaths. As this outbreak is being driven by infections of unvaccinated people, and RFK Jr. is a prominent vaccine opponent, this page treats all measles deaths as excess deaths attributable to him.
The CDC has confirmed no measles deaths for 2026 and is still developing a standard case definition for measles deaths, so waiting for CDC confirmation would mean counting nothing while the outbreak grows. Instead, this page counts a death when a county coroner or medical examiner, or a state health department stating a cause of death, attributes it to measles or to a recognized complication of measles such as pneumonia or encephalitis.
A positive measles test alone is not enough. Pennsylvania labels a death "measles-associated" whenever lab evidence of measles is present and the cause is still under investigation; those deaths are held out until the investigation concludes. Where the coroner rules measles out, as with a Lancaster County newborn who died of a splenic laceration in August 2026, the death is not counted.
Pre-existing conditions do not disqualify a death. Several of the people counted here had serious underlying illnesses, and measles killed them sooner than those illnesses would have. Standard excess-mortality practice counts such deaths, and so does this page.
Deaths from subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, a late complication that can appear years after a measles infection, are counted only if the original infection occurred during these outbreaks.
Sources:
The live count needs JavaScript. See every count on the Mortality 47 dashboard.