The Maryland Department of Health declared a measles outbreak Monday in Carroll, St. Mary's and Cecil counties, citing 14 newly confirmed cases among unvaccinated residents and bringing the state's 2026 total to 31, according to a department announcement.
"There is currently no evidence of widespread community transmission, as most cases occurred among household contacts," the state said. "The Department is working with the local health departments in the affected areas to promote opportunities for vaccination."
The announcement continued: "Unvaccinated residents account for all of the 27 confirmed cases since July 15, 2026, identified in St. Mary's (13), Carroll (8), Cecil (5) and Charles (1) counties." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines a measles outbreak as three or more related cases.
"Measles is highly contagious and we are actively working with healthcare professionals and local health departments to support impacted communities, respond to cases and mitigate further spread," said Dr. Meena Seshamani, the department's secretary, in the announcement. "The overall risk remains low if you are fully vaccinated."
Westminster Wire reported in July that the state had flagged the Carroll Hospital emergency department waiting room as a possible exposure site on July 13, when one emergency room visitor tested positive. That individual was linked to a group of Central Maryland residents who had traveled together to a location in the United States experiencing an active outbreak. A second exposure warning followed for the Carroll Hospital waiting room on July 21.
31 cases so far in 2026, after three in 2025
Maryland confirmed one measles case in 2017, one in 2018 and five in 2019, according to the department's published case count by year. The state then went three straight years, 2020 through 2022, without a single confirmed case. It recorded one case in 2023 and one in 2024, then three in 2025.
Together, those nine years, 2017 through 2025, saw 12 confirmed measles cases in Maryland. This year's total of 31 is more than double that nine-year sum, and more than six times 2019, the previous worst year on record in the department's published data.
The state's numbers track a national surge
Maryland's outbreak follows a national pattern. The CDC had recorded 2,777 confirmed measles cases across the country as of August 20, according to the agency's data, already surpassing the 2,289 cases confirmed for all of 2025.
Both years are well ahead of 2024, when the CDC recorded 285 cases nationally, and of 2019, when 1,274 cases marked the country's worst year since measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000.
Article thumbnail photo: “Digitally-colorized, thin-section transmission electron microscopic image of a single measles virus particle, with the viral nucleocapsid situated underneath the viral envelope, surrounded by surface projections.” Photo by CDC/ Cynthia S. Goldsmith; William Bellini, Ph.D., via the CDC Public Health Image Library.