Ohio measles cases up 400 percent as Pennsylvania counts its fifth death

Measles is roaring back in the American heartland. Ohio has confirmed roughly 225 cases across more than 20 counties so far in 2026, about a 400 percent increase over the 45 cases recorded in all of 2025, and Pennsylvania has now counted five measles deaths, the first in the state in 35 years and the first in the country this year.

The Ohio Department of Health's latest update shows the outbreak concentrated in the state's Amish country: Geauga County leads with 50 cases, followed by Wayne with 45 and Ashtabula with 41, with new cases still being added in county after county. Those infected range in age from 15 months to 20 years old. The trajectory tells the story: one case in Ohio in 2023, seven in 2024, 45 in 2025, and more than 225 and climbing in 2026.

Pennsylvania's outbreak is worse. The state has tallied nearly 1,000 cases, concentrated in Lancaster County's Amish communities where vaccination rates have long been low, with about 195 hospitalizations. Five people have died, none of them vaccinated. Two of the deaths were infants with underlying genetic conditions common in the community. The CDC, however, disputes Pennsylvania's count and officially lists only two measles deaths, a discrepancy that remains unresolved.

Nationally, Johns Hopkins data shows 4,020 measles cases reported this year, the highest annual total since 1991, for a disease the United States declared eliminated a generation ago. Health workers have responded with pop up clinics and door to door vaccination drives, and some Amish families are reconsidering vaccination after watching the outbreak hit infants and young adults. State health director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff has said plainly that the summer cases involved people who were unvaccinated or undervaccinated, and urged parents to protect their children with the MMR vaccine.