The ongoing measles epidemic in South Carolina continues to escalate, with hundreds of fresh instances documented in January.(Image credit: KATERYNA KON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via Getty Images)ShareShare by:
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The current surge of measles in South Carolina has achieved a remarkable 789 cases, rendering it the most extensive emergence of the ailment since the U.S. declared measles eliminated in 2000.
As per CNN, Texas formerly possessed the benchmark, due to an outbreak that registered 762 cases between January and August of 2025. This particular outbreak resulted in the demise of two school-aged children in the state. Fortunately, no fatalities have been reported during the South Carolina outbreak thus far.
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“Complications are not required to be reported to DPH, but we have determined that 18 individuals, encompassing both adults and children, have needed hospitalization for effects of the disease since the start of the outbreak” in October 2025, according to the update. “Additional cases have required medical attention for measles but did not require hospitalization.”
The statement further mentions that the great bulk of infections have transpired in unvaccinated people, despite the fact that 60 people’s immunization state is presently uncertain. Of the remaining infected individuals, 695 are unvaccinated and 14 are only partially vaccinated, having been given only one of the two prescribed amounts of a measles shot. Twenty are fully immunized.
While the two-dose sequence is 97% efficacious at avoiding measles, that allows for a minimal potential for infection in fully immunized people who are exposed to the disease. This is why establishing broad community protection is paramount — it defends all individuals within a group by restricting the virus’s transmission, thereby diminishing the likelihood of encountering the pathogen to begin with. A given group can attain broad community protection through both immunization and prior diseases, but only immunization has the advantage of greatly diminishing the risk of death and enduring health conditions from measles.
In light of its recent and continuing emergences, the U.S. could be at a point of forfeiting its measles-free status. This status is obtained when a nation records no sustained, local transmission of the measles virus for a minimum of one year.
U.S. functionaries are anticipated to convene with the Pan American Health Organization in April to ascertain whether America has indeed forfeited its elimination status, the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) announced. Should that happen, the U.S. would join nations such as the U.K. and Canada, which have also lately lost their status as a result of poor vaccination coverage.
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Dr. Ralph Abraham, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) principal deputy director, conveyed in mid-January that he was not particularly concerned regarding the U.S. possibly forfeiting its elimination status, CIDRAP reported. He posited that imported measles instances — from individuals journeying to the U.S., as an instance — were causing the increasing measles numbers.
Nations that have eliminated measles may still confront infrequent, imported instances of the ailment. Nevertheless, our elimination status pivots on whether the virus proceeds to proliferate routinely within the U.S. for no less than 12 months. In the event that an imported instance occurs within a group with adequate vaccination percentages, the virus is incapable of gaining traction.
For reference, in 2000, the year measles was reported as eliminated in the U.S., a sum of 85 cases were accounted for nationwide, according to CDC statistics. In 2025, 2,255 cases were registered across the nation. Furthermore, with South Carolina alone having already documented hundreds of fresh instances in 2026, this year has already dwarfed 2000’s figures.
“It devastates me to witness that my state is the foremost outbreak presently in the United States since the 1990s,” Dr. Anna Kathryn Rye Burch, a pediatric infectious diseases physician with Prisma Health in South Carolina, communicated to CNN.
Disclaimer
This article is for informational functions solely and is not meant to constitute medical advice.
Nicoletta LaneseSocial Links NavigationChannel Editor, Health
Nicoletta Lanese serves as the health channel editor at Live Science, having previously held roles as a news editor and staff writer on the site. She holds a graduate certificate in science communication from UC Santa Cruz and degrees in neuroscience and dance from the University of Florida. Her writings have been featured in The Scientist, Science News, the Mercury News, Mongabay, and Stanford Medicine Magazine, among other media venues. Based in NYC, she is also actively engaged in dance and performs in pieces by local choreographers.
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