An infant in southwestern Wisconsin has died of measles, marking the state’s first death linked to the virus in 36 years, state health officials announced Thursday.
A coroner listed measles as the infant’s immediate cause of death, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Authorities declined to release the child’s identity or specific location to safeguard the family’s privacy.
“It is with a heavy heart we are reporting the first death of an infant connected with a measles outbreak in Wisconsin in many years. My heart is broken for the family,” Kirsten Johnson, secretary of the state health department, said in a statement. “Any death of a child is a tragedy and even more so when it is related to a vaccine-preventable disease.”
Surging cases and a mounting national toll
The tragedy in Wisconsin is the third measles-related death reported in the United States this week. On Monday, New York health officials announced the measles death of a child in Lewis County, the state’s first such fatality in three decades. On Wednesday, Pennsylvania reported that an unvaccinated resident in Jefferson County died after testing positive for the virus.
State health authorities across the country have now reported eight measles-associated deaths in 2026, including six in Pennsylvania, one in New York and one in Wisconsin. It represents the highest annual measles death toll in the nation since 1991, NBC News reported. None of the eight individuals who died were vaccinated, with some ineligible due to age or medical status, according to state health agencies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has officially confirmed four of those fatalities so far and stated it is reviewing additional reports.
Wisconsin is confronting its worst measles outbreak in more than 35 years. The state has registered 431 cases across 13 counties this year, resulting in nine hospitalizations, officials said. By comparison, the state recorded 36 cases in 2025.
Declining vaccination rates leave communities exposed
Nationwide, the CDC has confirmed 4,852 measles cases in 2026, more than double the total from the previous year. Health officials attribute the resurgence largely to falling vaccination coverage. At least 96 percent of cases in the U.S. this year have occurred among people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown, ABC News reported.
In Wisconsin, roughly 85 percent of kindergarten students have received the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, well below the 92 percent national average and the 95 percent threshold epidemiologists say is necessary to achieve herd immunity.
“Measles is now spreading because there are enough people who are susceptible to infection for the virus to continue finding new hosts,” said Dr. Ryan Westergaard, Wisconsin’s chief medical officer and state epidemiologist for communicable diseases.
The MMR vaccine is 93 percent effective with one dose and 97 percent effective with two doses, according to the CDC. While the first dose is normally administered around 12 to 15 months of age, Wisconsin health officials are recommending an early dose for infants between 6 and 11 months old who live in or travel to high-risk outbreak areas.
Elimination status hangs in the balance
Measles can cause severe respiratory and neurological complications, including pneumonia and brain swelling. The CDC estimates that one to three of every 1,000 children infected with measles die from complications.
Measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, meaning continuous transmission had stopped. Next week, the Pan American Health Organization, a regional branch of the World Health Organization, is scheduled to convene to evaluate whether the United States will lose its elimination status amid the sustained nationwide outbreaks.
