With a measles outbreak in a county in Pennsylvania, health experts want to send a message to families.
Dr. Joseph Aracri, chair of the Allegheny Health Network Pediatric Orthopaedic Institute, worries about the surge in measles cases across the country and the increasing number of people declining to raise their sleeves to get a shot.
“We can save lives by just getting vaccinated,” Dr. Aracri said. “There’s so much misinformation out there about the vaccine that people are not getting vaccinated, and now we’re seeing an emergence of the disease.”
His feelings came as the Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed the first five cases of measles in the state in 2026. The cases are in Lancaster County in children and young adults. They were all unvaccinated.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 733 cases in the United States as of Feb. 5 in more than a dozen states. It comes as the country is on the verge of losing its measles-free designation in a few months.
“I don’t think it’s a status thing. I think it’s a public health thing. It’s a shame to see people get seriously ill and possibly die from a disease that is completely preventable,” Dr. Aracri said.
Dr. Aracri is most concerned for those not vaccinated because it’s a highly contagious disease that’s easy to spread. Having both doses of the vaccine decreases the chance of getting measles by 97%, and it’s very mild for the 3% who get it.
“There has been no indication whatsoever that this vaccine is associated with autism and has been studied in many countries, with millions of children in the study,” Dr. Aracri said.
Without the vaccine, the CDC said one in five people with measles is at risk of being hospitalized.
The symptoms can start with a high fever, runny nose, red watery eyes, body aches, and a red rash over the whole body, but it can quickly progress and cause permanent health problems or death.
“Things like pneumonia, long-term breathing problems. If you do get the brain infection, you can have cognitive or seizure problems that will last,” Dr. Aracri said.
There are no treatments, so people can only support the symptoms with things like Tylenol and water, with hopes that the body gets rid of the virus itself. Dr. Aracri just urges those unvaccinated to consider changing their minds.
“There’s no reason for anybody to get significantly sick or die from it,” Dr. Aracri said.Â
The Allegheny County Health Department said it is closely monitoring the developing situation in the state and that it has multiple procedures in place should an outbreak occur.
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