Kansas sees sharp rise in measles cases; outbreak spreads to new counties
The measles outbreak has spread to additional counties in Kansas over the past two weeks, according to health officials.
As of Wednesday, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment is reporting 32 positive cases of measles, up nearly 40% from two weeks ago when there were only 23 confirmed cases, according to the 2025 Kansas Measles Outbreak Dashboard.
The measles outbreak is concentrated in the southwestern part of Kansas, with the disease spreading to two additional counties over the past two weeks. Measles cases have now been reported in Finney, Ford, Grant, Gray, Haskell, Kiowa, Morton and Stevens counties.
The KDHE has previously said the confirmed cases in Kansas have a possible link to outbreaks in Texas and New Mexico.
The vast majority of cases, 26, involve children and teens. There have been 10 cases reported in children 4 years old and younger, and 16 between the ages of 5 and 17. The remaining six cases involving patients 18 and older.
Unvaccinated patients — 27 — account for the majority of the cases. Meanwhile, there is one case involving a patient not appropriately vaccinated for their age, two patients whose vaccinated status was being verified and one where the status was unable to be verified.
Only one patient had been appropriately vaccinated for their age, according to the health department. So far there has been one hospitalization and no deaths.
Cases spread across U.S.
The increase in measles cases in Kansas comes as the highly contagious disease spreads across the U.S.
As of April 3, there have been a total of 607 confirmed measles cases reported in 22 states: Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York State, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Washington, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
About 12% of the cases, 74 out of 607, have required hospitalizations and there have been two deaths, including one confirmed death from measles and one death under investigation.
Health officials have stated that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine is safe and effective. When more than 95% of the people in a community are vaccinated, most people are protected through community immunity, often referred to as herd immunity, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
Vaccinations rates among U.S. kindergartners has been on a decline, dropping from 95.2% during the 2019-2020 school year to 92.7% in the 2023-2024 school year.
Statewide for both Kansas and Missouri, 90.4% of the incoming kindergartners in the 2023-24 school year had received the MMR vaccine, according to the CDC.
Measles were officially considered eliminated from the United States in 2000, with new cases only being reported when someone contracted measles abroad and then returned to the United States.
This story was originally published April 10, 2025 at 10:54 AM.
