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Pittsburgh’s kindergartners fall below the measles safety threshold, testing the city’s vaccine legacy
Pittsburgh’s kindergartners fall below the measles safety threshold, testing the city’s vaccine legacy. Originally published by The Conversation.
By Rebecca Smullin Dawson, Associate Professor of Biology, Allegheny College · 2026-09-15T19:20:33.989Z
Pennsylvania's 2026 outbreak has grown to more than 670 confirmed cases statewide. Sean Rayford/Stringer via Getty Images It takes a lot to knock football out of the headlines in Pittsburgh. But reports of measles cases https://triblive.com/local/regional/jefferson county measles related death marks 1st adult fatality in statewide outbreak/ , exposure alerts https://www.wtae.com/article/measles exposure upmc childrens hospital pittsburgh/73668056 and calls for residents to double check their vaccination status https://www.facebook.com/AlleghenyCountyHealth/posts/know your statusdont wait until youve been exposed to measles to check if youre /1388464426800996/ have dominated local news since August 2026. My office at Allegheny College, where I am an epidemiologist https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=SfyPpq4AAAAJ&hl=en , is within a few steps of a classroom dedicated to Dr. Thomas Francis https://www.polioplace.org/people/thomas francis jr md . Dr. Francis also coordinated the entire polio vaccine field trial, which included 1.8 million children, and deemed the polio vaccine “ safe, effective, potent https://sph.umich.edu/polio/ .”
A plaque outside Thomas Francis classroom at Allegheny College in Crawford County, Pennsylvania. Photo submitted by Rebecca Dawson As of Sept. 14, 2026, the Pennsylvania Department of Health https://www.pa.gov/agencies/health/newsroom/department of health provides statewide update 091126 has confirmed 693 measles cases across 38 of the state’s 67 counties this year, including 133 hospitalizations and three deaths among unvaccinated residents https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/13/well/unvaccinated woman measles complications death.html . That compares with 16 cases statewide in all of 2025. Allegheny County reported its first case tied to the current outbreak in August, when the county health department warned of a potential exposure https://www.alleghenycounty.us/News Articles/Allegheny County Press Releases/August 2026 PR/08 20 2026 Potential Measles Exposure Statement at UPMC Children’s Hospital’s emergency department. Two confirmed cases were diagnosed on Aug. 27, 2026, but the patients left the county afterward. Pittsburgh is where Dr. Jonas Salk developed the first polio vaccine https://theconversation.com/the world risks forgetting one of humanitys greatest triumphs as polio nears global eradication 70 years after jonas salk developed the vaccine in a pittsburgh lab 270042 on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. Children throughout the Pittsburgh area https://www.post gazette.com/opinion/insight/2023/03/26/pittsburgh polio prepioneers salk vaccine/stories/202303260025 , including my father, lined up to participate in the Salk vaccine trials https://www.history.com/this day in history/april 26/polio vaccine trials begin in 1954. That history offers a useful lens for understanding today’s measles outbreak: what’s driving it, how it spreads, and what residents in the Pittsburgh area need to know. Measles, explained Measles is one of the oldest and most contagious diseases. In fact, measles was around when the Egyptian pyramids were being built https://scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci arttext&pid=S0256 95742010000400013 . Archaeological evidence shows the measles virus in the Tigris and Euphrates river valley in 3000 B.C.E https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aba9411 . Measles is an acute respiratory virus. If an unvaccinated individual who has never had measles is exposed to the measles virus, they will likely become sick. Measles easily spreads through the air. Infected individuals are contagious 3 5 days before symptoms occur, a transmission mechanism known as asymptomatic spread. Viral particles remain active and infectious for up to two hours https://www.cdc.gov/measles/causes/index.html after a person with measles leaves a room.
The measles was eliminated from the U.S. in 2000 through the effective use of the vaccine. PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP Collection via Getty Images Symptoms of measles include a fever as high as 105 degrees Fahrenheit, cough, runny nose, conjunctivitis and Koplik spots https://medlineplus.gov/ency/imagepages/2558.htm :%7E:text=Koplik%20spots%20are%20seen%20with,in%20the%20course%20of%20measles. , which are small white or bluish white spots that appear on the inside of the cheeks before the measles rash breaks out on the skin. These spots are the defining diagnostic feature of measles https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK549793/ . Measles also results in a rash, known as a “bucket of paint rash” because it looks like someone spilled a bucket of red paint over the head of the sick person. The rash is not contagious. This disease spreads when someone breathes in the virus. Before there was a vaccine for measles, upward of 3 million people – mostly children – were infected in the U.S. each year, 48,000 were hospitalized, and as many as 500 died https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/history.html . Measles was eliminated in the United States through vaccination in 2000 https://www.kff.org/other health/measles elimination status what it is and how the u s could lose it/ , meaning person to person spread of the disease was disrupted. However, due to declining vaccination rates https://www.pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp pagov/en/health/documents/topics/documents/programs/immunizations/School%20Immunization%20Survey%20Summary%20for%20PA%202025 2026.pdf , measles is once again spreading throughout Pennsylvania, resulting in approximately four times as many measles cases in 2026 https://www.pa.gov/agencies/health/diseases conditions/infectious disease/measles within the state as in the previous 30 years combined. Measles vaccination rates need to be above 95% https://www.haponline.org/News/HAP News Articles/Latest News/school age vaccination rates decline in pa nation to prevent the disease from spreading. The current outbreak has affected a majority of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties https://www.pa.gov/agencies/health/diseases conditions/infectious disease/measles , an indicator that even small declines in vaccination coverage result in large outbreaks. The MMR vaccine is covered at no cost by most private insurance plans and is available free of charge to Medicaid insured, uninsured or underinsured children at any of Pennsylvania’s 59 state health centers https://www.pa.gov/agencies/health/about us/state health centers sortCriteria=%40copapwptitle%20ascending%2C%40title%20ascending%2C%40copapwpeducatorname%20ascending . The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends https://www.aap.org/en/patient care/measles/measles vaccine/ children receive two doses by ages 4 to 6 to ensure protection against measles. Allegheny County’s kindergarten MMR vaccination rate https://www.wesanews.org/health science tech/2025 09 30/routine vaccination rates decline pennsylvania kindergarteners was 91.8% for the 2025 26 school year https://www.alleghenycounty.us/files/assets/county/v/4/government/health/documents/vaccine coverage/2025 to 2026 immunization report.pdf – below the 95% threshold https://theconversation.com/cdc vs pennsylvania why conflicting public health messages jeopardize public safety 291239 needed to stop measles from spreading and part of a decline the county health department has tracked for more than a decade https://cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/allegheny county vaccination rate slipping . If you’re exposed to measles If you are vaccinated or have had measles, there is little risk – about 3% https://www.nfid.org/resource/frequently asked questions about measles/ – that you will develop measles if exposed to the virus. There is no need to quarantine, but even vaccinated people should watch for symptoms of disease. For people who are unvaccinated, including infants, the risk of developing a measles infection after exposure is approximately 90% https://www.nfid.org/resource/frequently asked questions about measles/ . Unvaccinated individuals need to quarantine. Local health departments require them to stay away from others for 21 days to prevent the asymptomatic spread of disease.
About 15% of Pennsylvania children who got the measles this year had to be hospitalized. Getty Images News via Getty Images If an individual in quarantine becomes ill, they will begin a minimum 14 day isolation. Measles is a serious disease. Approximately 20% of people who get it will develop pneumonia; many will require hospitalization, and a few will die. Each measles case costs our healthcare system approximately US$43,000 https://publichealth.jhu.edu/ivac/2025/estimating the financial costs of measles outbreaks , according to a Johns Hopkins systematic review of outbreaks in 18 states. The measles virus also has the ability to suppress one’s immune system https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay6485 . This means that after a bout of measles, survivors can be left more vulnerable to other infections they were previously protected against, sometimes for months or even years afterward. In order to prevent measles from spreading in our communities https://www.aap.org/en/patient care/measles/measles vaccine/?srsltid=AfmBOor3jwP65Sbj2DSOyaYNrEc1unDgYFZF2aAY4dRGuSRrkc1bMZb0 , at least 95% https://www.kff.org/other health/measles elimination status what it is and how the u s could lose it/ of the population must be vaccinated. The MMR vaccine was designed to prevent an individual from developing measles. But there is an added bonus: When the majority of a population is vaccinated, there are community wide effects, mainly that community transmission of measles https://www.pa.gov/agencies/health/diseases conditions/infectious disease/measles will begin to decline. Pittsburgh helped end one vaccine preventable epidemic 70 years ago. The current measles outbreak could be a test of whether the local history still means something for vaccination rates today.
Rebecca Smullin Dawson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.