Johns Hopkins launches disease tracker to complement CDC surveillance

Clinical takeaway: The new tracker may help clinicians place suspected or confirmed cases in local context and stay alert to vaccine-preventable disease activity when counseling patients or considering testing.

Vaccine-preventable diseases still cause outbreaks in the US, and clinicians often benefit from a clearer view of what is circulating locally. Johns Hopkins has launched a new US Disease Tracker designed to make that information easier to access and interpret.

Developed by Johns Hopkins University in collaboration with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, and state and territorial public health agencies, the public site initially tracks measles, meningococcal disease, and pertussis, with plans to add other vaccine-preventable diseases over time.

The tracker provides standardized, open-access data in interactive maps and visualizations at both the state and substate level. It also includes age-group breakdowns to show which populations are most affected. According to the release, the goal is to complement CDC surveillance by presenting disease activity in a format that is timely, detailed, and broadly usable for clinicians, public health officials, policymakers, researchers, and the public.

More than 25 jurisdictions have committed to participate, and data from 10 states are currently reflected on the tracker, with more jurisdictions expected to join in 2026. Where available, information is supplied directly by participating health departments; for nonparticipating states, the tracker uses CDC National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System data.

For clinicians, the tool may be useful when local outbreaks raise concern for measles, meningococcal disease, or pertussis. More granular trend data could help inform diagnostic suspicion, vaccination discussions, and situational awareness without replacing routine public health reporting.

“By providing easy to understand maps, figures, and analyses of vaccine preventable diseases in the United States, we hope to guide public health policy decisions and inform health care providers so they can better advise and care for their patients,” said William Moss, senior advisor at Johns Hopkins’ International Vaccine Access Center and an epidemiologist at the Bloomberg School for Public Health.

Source: Johns Hopkins University. (2026 Aug 5). U.S. disease tracker launches to strengthen monitoring of vaccine-preventable diseases