Health

The Outbreak Ledger

Diseases your grandparents retired, returning by popular demand.

• Measles, 2025eliminated from the US in 2000; the 2004 low was 37 cases→2,289 cases — a 33-year high — and 3 dead, two of them school-aged children in West TexasThe first US measles deaths in a decade. 97% of cases were unvaccinated or of unknown status. CDC
• Measles, 20262025's total was already the post-elimination record→2,777 cases by August 20 — a 35-year high, climbing weekly across 36 separate outbreaks94% of cases outbreak-associated; 47 jurisdictions reporting. The count updates Wednesdays; so does this line. CDC
• The elimination itselfmeasles declared eliminated from the United States, 2000→a federal verification committee convened in August 2026 to determine whether that sentence is still trueThe regional commission rules in November. Independent analyses expect the status to fall. STAT News
• Whooping coughthe all-time US low: 1,010 cases, 1976→35,435 cases in 2024 (CDC provisional; final surveillance ran higher), 10 dead; at least 13 more deaths in 2025The deaths concentrate in infants under twelve months, too young for their own shots. CDC
• Influenza, in childrenthe previous worst regular season killed 199 children→280 pediatric deaths, 2024-25 — the worst non-pandemic flu season since national counting beganOf the vaccine-eligible children who died with known status, 89% were not fully vaccinated. CDC MMWR
• The kindergarten line95.2% MMR coverage in 2019 — the herd-immunity threshold→92.4% and falling; exemptions at a record 4.2%, rising in 41 statesFourth straight year of decline. 24 states now exceed 5% exempt; about 280,000 kindergartners lack documented MMR. CDC SchoolVaxView
• Florida, the pilot program93.3% kindergarten coverage in 2020; 7 measles cases in all of 2025→88.9% coverage; 155 measles cases in the first half of 2026The state announced the end of all school vaccine mandates in September 2025. The legislature never passed it. The collapse didn't wait for the law. WLRN

Counts from the CDC and the state health departments; each count carries its as-of date, because these numbers move.