South Carolina has reported nearly 800 measles cases since an outbreak began in October, with no signs of slowing, according to the latest data from the state’s health department.
As of Jan. 27, 789 measles cases have been confirmed, with 160 reported during the week ending Jan. 18. This is higher than the number of cases tied to an outbreak that began at the start of 2025 in West Texas. A total of 762 individuals were sickened in that outbreak, which health officials declared over in August, after more than 42 days passed with no new cases reported in affected counties.
In both outbreaks, most affected individuals were not vaccinated against the disease. The majority are also children.
In South Carolina, at least 18 measles patients have been hospitalized. As of Jan. 27, dozens of students at 20 schools are in quarantine, state data shows.
At least 416 measles cases have been confirmed nationally since the start of 2026, according to the latest CDC data, which does yet reflect the latest totals from the South Carolina Department of Public Health. In 2025, the U.S. experienced its worst measles outbreak in decades, with 2,255 cases reported.
The surge in cases has put the nation at risk of losing its measles elimination status — a designation the U.S. has held since 2000, when the country was first recognized for halting continuous transmission of the virus for at least 12 months. That determination hinges on whether ongoing outbreaks in South Carolina and other states can be epidemiologically linked to the outbreak that began in Texas. An international panel of health officials is expected to rule on the matter in April.
Experts point to declining childhood immunization rates as key contributors to measles’ resurgence. For the 2023-24 school year, more than half of U.S. counties saw an uptick in religious or personal belief exemptions among kindergartners, according to a recent study published in JAMA. Less than 93% of kindergartners received the MMR vaccine for the 2024-25 school year, down from 95.2% before the pandemic.
Recent changes in federal vaccine policy and rhetoric have further complicated efforts to improve vaccination rates, according to public health experts.
“Back in 2000 when we eliminated measles, we didn’t have the same politicization around vaccines,” Richard Besser, MD, former acting director of the CDC and president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, told The New York Times. “It will become very hard, if not impossible, to achieve the levels of vaccination against measles that are required to keep it from spreading around.”
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