The United States has recorded its worst measles epidemic in more than 30 years since the beginning of 2025, according to a tally Monday from Johns Hopkins University, a crisis that US Secretary of Health, vaccine skeptic Robert Kennedy Jr., is accused of fueling.
This highly contagious and serious disease, once eliminated from the country thanks to vaccines, is making a strong comeback against a backdrop of falling vaccination rates and growing distrust of health authorities.
The result: 1,277 confirmed cases since the beginning of the year in nearly 40 of the 50 US states, with Texas accounting for more than 60% of the cases, according to the Johns Hopkins University database.
This is the highest number of cases since 1992.
The epidemic has left three people dead, including two young children. A toll that many experts believe is a significant underestimate, raising concerns about underreporting.
Before that, the last infant death in the United States was in 2003, three years after measles was officially declared eradicated there thanks to vaccination.
The last major outbreak was recorded in 2019 in Orthodox Jewish communities in New York and New Jersey, with 1,274 cases but no deaths.
Measles causes fever, respiratory symptoms and rash, and in some cases more serious complications, such as pneumonia and inflammation of the brain, which can lead to serious damage and death.
The epidemic broke out at the end of January in a rural area of Texas (south) where a Mennonite religious community lives, an ultraconservative and poorly vaccinated population.
Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. is accused of exacerbating the health crisis by fueling fears about the measles vaccine, particularly by spreading false information about it.
The year 2025 marks a strong return of the disease to the North American continent, with Canada and Mexico also experiencing major epidemics.
More than 3,500 cases have been reported in Canada since the beginning of the year, the vast majority in the province of Ontario, and one infant has died.
And in Mexico, nearly 2,600 cases and nine deaths have been recorded, the Pan American Health Organization reported in early July.
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