07/25/2026
is in the top five states with the highest reported cases of in 2026, according to new data released by the CDC, going from just 8 cases in 2025 to 141 confirmed cases in 2026.
Measles is a highly contagious disease that can lead to serious complications. Symptoms appear 7 to 14 days after contact with the virus.
Measles typically begins with:
➡️High fever (may spike to more than 104°)
➡️Cough
➡️Runny nose (coryza)
➡️Red, watery eyes (conjunctivitis or pink eye)
Tiny white spots (Koplik spots) may appear inside the mouth two to three days after symptoms begin.
Measles rash appears 3 to 5 days after the first symptoms. It usually begins as flat red spots that appear on the face at the hairline. They then spread downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs, and feet.
COMPLICATIONS:
❗️Ear infections occur in about 1 out of every 10 children with measles.
❗️Diarrhea is reported in less than 1 out of 10 people with measles.
❗️Hospitalization. About 1 in 5 unvaccinated people in the U.S. who get measles is hospitalized.
❗️Pneumonia. As many as 1 out of every 20 children with measles gets pneumonia, the most common cause of death from measles in young children.
❗️Encephalitis. About 1 child out of every 1,000 who get measles will develop encephalitis (swelling of the brain). This can lead to convulsions and leave the child deaf or with intellectual disability.
❗️Death. Nearly 1 to 3 of every 1,000 children who become infected with measles will die from respiratory and neurologic complications.
❗️Complications during pregnancy. If you are pregnant and have not had the MMR vaccine, measles may cause you to give birth prematurely or have a low-birth-weight baby.
Long-term complications include Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis ( ), a very rare, but fatal disease of the central nervous system. It results from a measles virus infection acquired earlier in life. SSPE generally develops 7 to 10 years after a person has measles, even though the person seems to have fully recovered from the illness.
