A person with measles is contagious<\/a> from four days before through four days after their rash appears, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which means they can spread the virus to other people before even knowing they are infected with the disease.\n<\/p>\n The virus spreads when an infected person sneezes, coughs or talks and another person comes into contact with their respiratory droplets.\n<\/p>\n Measles can linger in the air and on surfaces for up to two hours, meaning people can be exposed even without direct contact with the infected person.\n<\/p>\n A single person with measles can infect up to 18 unvaccinated people<\/a>, according to the World Health Organization.\n <\/p>\n Most people who\u2019ve had at least two doses of a measles vaccine are considered immune and protected for the rest of their lives, and face minimal risk overall, even during local outbreaks.\n<\/p>\n People who are more vulnerable to infection include infants too young to be vaccinated, pregnant women and those who are immunocompromised, which could involve people with certain chronic diseases, patients getting cancer treatment, organ transplant recipients and elderly residents, public health experts said.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI recently advised a family member against traveling to this area with her preemie newborn, who just got home from the [neonatal intensive care unit],\u201d McGann said Friday in Lancaster. Measles vaccination is the best way to protect against infection, Bogen said.\n<\/p>\n The vaccine, first approved in the United States in 1963, is about 97% effective<\/a> against the virus. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians recommend babies<\/a> get their first dose after 12 months old and their second between 4 and 6 years old.\n<\/p>\n Families may be able to get their children vaccinated earlier<\/a> if they plan to travel to areas with known measles outbreaks or internationally.\n<\/p>\n Adults can also get a measles shot<\/a> if they\u2019ve never been immunized or are unsure of their vaccination status.\n<\/p>\n The Pennsylvania Department of Health, along with county health departments and state health centers<\/a>, has been working to boost community immunization rates.\n<\/p>\n State health centers have administered 1,300 measles vaccine doses so far in 2026, including more than 430 doses at recent pop-up clinics in the Lancaster-Lebanon region over the last two months.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re meeting people where they are, answering their questions honestly and breaking down barriers to care,\u201d Bogen said.\n<\/p>\n Anyone who suspects that they or someone in their family has been infected with measles should call ahead to their pediatrician\u2019s office, health care provider or hospital before seeking in-person care.\n<\/p>\n Residents can also call the state Department of Health to confidentially report<\/a> measles symptoms that they are experiencing at home.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How does measles spread, and when is someone contagious? A person with measles is contagious from four days before through four days after their rash appears, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which means they can spread the virus to other people before even knowing they are infected with the disease. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DOH-measles1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11573],"tags":[2847,2797,10284,6868,471],"class_list":["post-31271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philadelphia-breaking-news","tag-cases","tag-measles","tag-outbreak","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reaches"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DOH-measles1.jpg",0,0,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DOH-measles1.jpg",0,0,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DOH-measles1.jpg",0,0,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DOH-measles1.jpg",150,150,false],"medium":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DOH-measles1.jpg",300,300,false],"large":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DOH-measles1.jpg",1024,1024,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DOH-measles1.jpg",1536,1536,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DOH-measles1.jpg",2048,2048,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DOH-measles1.jpg",370,265,false],"kava-thumb-s":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DOH-measles1.jpg",150,85,false],"kava-thumb-s-2":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DOH-measles1.jpg",230,230,false],"kava-thumb-m":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DOH-measles1.jpg",400,400,false],"kava-thumb-m-vertical":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DOH-measles1.jpg",370,500,false],"kava-thumb-m-2":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DOH-measles1.jpg",570,450,false],"kava-thumb-l":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DOH-measles1.jpg",1170,650,false],"kava-thumb-xl":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DOH-measles1.jpg",1920,1080,false],"kava-thumb-masonry":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DOH-measles1.jpg",600,999,false],"kava-thumb-justify":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DOH-measles1.jpg",640,640,false],"kava-thumb-justify-2":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DOH-measles1.jpg",1280,640,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"#RiseCelestialStudios","author_link":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/author\/ralph-c\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Philadelphia Viral News<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"How does measles spread, and when is someone contagious? A person with measles is contagious from four days before through four days after their rash appears, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which means they can spread the virus to other people before even knowing they are infected with the disease. The…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31271"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31273,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31271\/revisions\/31273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPennsylvania has confirmed over 80 cases of measles so far in 2026. Most cases are linked to an ongoing outbreak in the Lebanon-Lancaster region. (Courtesy of Pennsylvania Department of Health)\n<\/p>\nPrevention and protection against measles<\/h2>\n