BATON ROUGE — The United States has hit a milestone of more than 1,000 cases of measles already this year. Almost all are among people who have not been vaccinated.

That's based on data from the CDC and state health departments.

Many cases are related to an outbreak in West Texas, but most states have reported the disease.

"The problem is, when vaccination rates fall below 95 percent for measles, or under 90 percent in public schools, you see big outbreaks." Gov. Josh Green of Hawaii and a Physician said.

This is likely to be the worst year for measles in the United States since it was declared eliminated in 2000.

The only other year close is 2019, when outbreaks around New York City pushed the total to 1274 cases.

This year's count is 1,002 as of May 8, 2025.

"If you're immunocompromised or you haven't been vaccinated, you should probably think twice about going to areas where there's a lot of measles circulating," Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent of CNN, said.

Many experts think the actual number of cases is probably higher.

They say early symptoms can resemble other illnesses, and most modern doctors haven't seen measles firsthand.

"We were able to eradicate measles, and now they're back," Gov. Josh Green said.

The CDC says three people have died of measles in the United States this year. The agency says that before the MMR vaccine, the United States saw hundreds of measles deaths annually.

"This virus can cause you to be hospitalized and die," Dr. Paul Offit, a Pediatrician and Virology expert, said.