Washington, United States (AFP)-The United States’ measles outbreak has surpassed 1,000 confirmed cases with three deaths so far, state and local data showed Friday, marking a stark resurgence of a vaccine-preventable disease that the nation once declared eliminated.

The surge comes as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to undermine confidence in the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine — a highly effective shot he has falsely claimed is dangerous and contains fetal debris.

An AFP tally showed there have been at least 1,012 cases since the start of the year, with Texas accounting for more than 70 percent.

A vaccine-skeptical Mennonite Christian community straddling the Texas–New Mexico border has been hit particularly hard.

A federal database maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has lagged behind state and county reporting, as the globally renowned health agency faces deep workforce and budget cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration.

North Dakota is the latest state to report an outbreak, with nine cases so far. Around 180 school students have been forced to quarantine at home, according to the North Dakota Monitor.

“This is a virus that’s the most contagious infectious disease of mankind and it’s now spreading like wildfire,” Paul Offit a pediatrician and vaccine expert at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia told AFP.

He warned the true case count could be far higher, as people shy away from seeking medical attention. “Those three deaths equal the total number of deaths from measles in the last 25 years in this country.”

The fatalities so far include two young girls in Texas and an adult in New Mexico, all unvaccinated — making it the deadliest US measles outbreak in decades.

It is also the highest number of cases since 2019, when outbreaks in Orthodox Jewish communities in New York and New Jersey resulted in 1,274 infections but no deaths.

– Vaccine misinformation –

Nationwide immunization rates have been dropping in the United States, fueled by misinformation about vaccines, particularly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The CDC recommends a 95 percent vaccination rate to maintain herd immunity.

However, measles vaccine coverage among kindergartners has dropped from 95.2 percent in the 2019–2020 school year to 92.7 percent in 2023–2024.

Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus spread through droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes or simply breathes.

Known for its characteristic rash, it poses a serious risk to unvaccinated individuals, including infants under 12 months who are not ordinarily eligible for vaccination, and those with weakened immune systems.

Before the measles vaccine’s introduction in 1963, it is thought that millions of Americans contracted the disease annually, and several hundred died. While measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000, outbreaks persist each year.

Susan McLellan, an infectious disease professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch, pushed back against messaging that promotes remedies like Vitamin A — which has valid but limited uses — over vaccines.

Kennedy has led that messaging in frequent appearances on Fox News.

“Saying we’re going to devote resources to studying therapies instead of enhancing uptake of the vaccine is a profoundly inefficient way of addressing a vaccine-preventable disease,” she told AFP.

McLellan added that the crisis reflects broader erosion in public trust in health authorities.

She said it is hard for an individual untrained in statistics to understand measles is a problem if they don’t personally see deaths around them. “Believing population-based statistics takes a leap, and that’s public health.”