More cases are reported in a Central Pa. measles outbreak
As of Thursday, two additional cases were identified in Lebanon County, plus a new case in Lancaster County and one in Dauphin County, health officials said in a statement.
Pennsylvania health officials have identified more cases of measles in an outbreak originating in Lebanon County last month.
As of Thursday, two additional cases were identified in Lebanon County, plus a new case in Lancaster County and one in Dauphin County, health officials said in a statement.
In total, health officials have identified 14 cases in Lebanon County, four in Lancaster County, one in Berks County, and one in Dauphin County since April.
The state health department first detected the outbreak when three Lebanon County residents were treated at a hospital for measles; contact tracing revealed several more cases in area residents, they said.
As of this week, only two patients with measles were still contagious and health officials had advised them to isolate at their homes.
The department has held vaccination clinics in Lebanon and Lancaster Counties since the outbreak was detected. A May 19 clinic in Lancaster vaccinated 67 people against measles, mumps, and rubella, officials said, adding that they plan to host more clinics in the area.
In early May, after identifying the first three cases in Lebanon County, the department issued a health alert to medical providers, saying they believed measles could be circulating in the region and was likely affecting more people than had been reported to the department.
They said the exposures likely occurred in the community and were not related to domestic or international travel.
They urged health providers to be aware of the signs of measles, including a high fever and a rash, and to ensure their patients were up-to-date on vaccinations.
Measles is highly contagious and can infect 9 in 10 unvaccinated people exposed to the virus. Virus particles can linger in the air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves an area.
Overall, Pennsylvania has seen 32 measles cases this year — double the cases seen in all of 2025.
State officials said that nearly 94% of kindergarten students statewide were vaccinated against measles in the 2024-2025 school year, which should help limit the number of cases in the state.
But a recent Inquirer analysis found that measles vaccination rates have been dropping across the state for years.
Nearly 50 counties, including Berks, Lebanon, Dauphin, and Lancaster, had kindergarten immunization rates below 95%, the threshold epidemiologists say is necessary to prevent the virus from spreading in a community. In Lancaster County, just 88.5% of kindergarteners were vaccinated against measles, and in Dauphin County, kindergarten vaccination rates were at 86.8%.
