Health officials confirm case of measles in Bucks County, Pennsylvania

Key Points:

• Bucks County health officials confirmed a measles case involving an adult who recently traveled to central Pennsylvania, an area experiencing a measles outbreak; the individual is no longer contagious and vaccination status is unknown.
• Pennsylvania has reported over 1,500 measles cases and six deaths in 2026, amid a nationwide surge with more than 5,000 cases confirmed across 45 states and Washington, D.C. according to the CDC.
• Eight measles-related deaths have been recorded this year in the U.S., including six in Pennsylvania, one in New York, and one in Wisconsin, marking the first such deaths in some states in decades.
• Approximately 96% of measles cases occur in unvaccinated individuals or those with unknown vaccination status, while vaccination rates have declined since the pre-pandemic period, with 92.4% of kindergartners vaccinated in 2025-26 compared to 95.2% in 2019-20.
• The CDC recommends two doses of the MMR vaccine for effective protection, and health officials urge those potentially exposed to measles to notify healthcare providers before seeking medical care to ensure proper precautions.