This year is the worst for measles spread in the U.S. since 1991. The news comes as Missouri has become the 18th state with an outbreak in 2025.

Kentucky has its first measles outbreak of 2025, as the U.S. case count sits just short of a 30-year high. There have been 1,267 confirmed measles cases this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.

Already in 2025, the United States has reported more measles cases than in any full year since the early '90s, according to federal data. And that record-setting case count has been driven by a massive outbreak that began in Texas.