Outbreak Intelligence 4 min read

What's Going Around This Week in the U.S.

The reportable diseases rising and falling in the United States this week, flu-like illness by region, and this week's outbreak news. Rewritten every week from CDC surveillance data.

VW

Virus Watcher Intelligence Desk

Written from CDC surveillance data and Virus Watcher outbreak feeds

Published 2026-09-30 · Updated 2026-10-20

Updated 2026-10-20. This page is rewritten every week from CDC surveillance data and our outbreak feeds.

This page answers one question every week: what is actually going around in the United States right now, according to the surveillance data, not the headlines. It is rewritten each week from the same feeds Vira reads. Where the data is thin or late, it says so.

The short version

Rising this week: Measles (224 cases, up from an average of 128), Invasive pneumococcal disease (117 cases, up from an average of 90), West Nile virus (8 cases, up from an average of 5.2).

Falling: Giardiasis, Cryptosporidiosis, Mumps.

Reportable diseases, CDC week ending September 28, 2026

Counts are what state health departments reported to the CDC's National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System for the week. They run about three weeks behind the calendar and are revised for months, so read the direction more than the number. The trend compares the week with the average of the four weeks before it.

Disease This week 4-week avg Trend Most cases
Measles 224 128 rising Pennsylvania (167), New York (30), Kentucky (15)
Invasive pneumococcal disease 117 90 rising Ohio (21), New York City (20), New York (15)
West Nile virus 8 5.2 rising New York (2), Arizona (2), Georgia (1)
Campylobacter 914 1,004 steady Florida (125), New York City (100), New York (77)
Salmonella 834 893 steady Florida (273), New York (54), South Carolina (47)
E. coli (STEC) 175 190 steady New York (35), Ohio (19), Florida (17)
Shigella 166 187 steady New York City (37), Florida (27), Maryland (14)
Giardiasis 147 214 falling Florida (25), New York City (23), New York (20)
Cryptosporidiosis 106 192 falling Ohio (13), California (13), New York (11)
Legionnaires' disease 104 114 steady Florida (23), New York (17), Ohio (15)
Whooping cough (pertussis) 71 65 steady Ohio (18), Virginia (11), New York (10)
Tuberculosis 62 70 steady California (13), New York City (8), Florida (5)
Chickenpox (varicella) 45 46 steady Florida (13), Colorado (7), Ohio (6)
Hepatitis A 7 6.2 steady Florida (4), Virginia (1), New York City (1)
Mumps 0 1.5 falling none reported

Flu-like illness, week ending October 4, 2026

The share of doctor visits for influenza-like illness, by CDC region. The national baseline that marks the start of flu season is about 3 percent; anything under 2 is a quiet week.

National: 2.1% of visits, from 1.8% the week before.

Region ILI visits
NY, NJ, PR, VI 3.0%
Southwest and Pacific 2.9%
South Central 2.5%
Southeast 2.3%
Mid-Atlantic 1.8%
Northwest 1.8%
New England 1.5%
Mountain 1.4%
Great Lakes 1.2%
Central Plains 1.1%

Season posts: Flu season 2026 to 2027 and RSV season 2026 to 2027.

Stomach bugs

Norovirus is the most searched illness on this site and one the CDC does not count case by case: it is not a reportable disease. What we can see is CDC wastewater monitoring, which tracks norovirus in sewage across about 40 states, the reportable gastrointestinal diseases in the table above (Salmonella, E. coli, Shigella, Campylobacter), and the outbreak reports in the news. The wastewater table by state is on the norovirus fall 2026 page.

In the news this week

US outbreak reporting picked up by our feeds in the last seven days. A headline is a signal of attention, not a case count.

  • Measles (Georgia): Measles exposure in Georgia's Macon County raises outbreak concerns: What we know so far (Oct 20)

  • Measles (Minnesota): Measles cases reach 42 in rural Minnesota amid outbreaks (Oct 16)

  • Food Poisoning (Tennessee): Dozens of Tennessee Walmart employees hospitalized for 'possible' food illness (Oct 14)

How to use this

A rising line in the table is a reason to pay attention where you live, not a reason to worry. The counts are statewide; your county can be quiet while the state number climbs. If you want to know when something changes in your own city rather than checking back here, that is what Vira does: she watches the same feeds for the places you name and texts you only when something moves. Join the early access list.

Data: CDC NNDSS weekly tables (week ending September 28, 2026), CDC ILINet, and Virus Watcher outbreak feeds. Updated weekly. Past weeks are archived in Virus Watcher Weekly.

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