Measles cases in Pennsylvania pass 1,350, with Amish-majority Lancaster at the centre of the outbreak
Photo: Collected
The number of measles cases in the US state of Pennsylvania has passed 1,350 this year. Data from the state’s health department show Pennsylvania has the highest number of patients this year among the country’s 50 states.
The Independent reported that more than a third of those infected are residents of Lancaster County. The county is home to the largest Amish population in the United States. The area is now the centre of the worst measles outbreak the country has seen in the past 35 years.
Meanwhile, three people in Lancaster County and two in other counties have died of measles and measles symptoms.
Explaining how serious the outbreak is, a prominent physician warned that no one in the United States who is at risk of measles can afford to be complacent. Anyone who has not been vaccinated or has never had measles before is not safe from the virus.
Vaccination rates have long been low among the Amish population. The tendency to get vaccinated is now falling among the general public as well. This has created conditions for the highly contagious virus to spread. Yet the United States had been officially declared measles-free since 2000.
Community leaders believe the actual number of cases may be much higher than the official count, because many people with measles do not see a doctor, so information on many of them does not make it into official records.
The outbreak has hit hardest among the ‘Plain community’, religious groups living simple lives made up of Amish and conservative Mennonite people. Following religious and cultural tradition, they wear simple clothing and limit their use of modern technology. The word ‘Plain’ is used to describe this way of life.
However, not everyone in this population holds the same view on vaccines, and vaccination rates are not the same for all. Overall, the tendency to get vaccinated is lower among them than in the general population. Culture and long-standing habit, rather than religious restrictions, are considered more responsible for this.
In 2025 too, measles outbreaks occurred among Mennonite populations in several areas of the United States, including Texas. This year as well, measles cases have been found in most of the country’s states.
Although people in the Plain community take less part in various activities of society, they are not completely isolated. They meet the general public in various places, including farm produce markets and doctors’ chambers. So if measles spreads among them, it can also affect wider society. Again, if the shock of the outbreak increases their tendency to get vaccinated, that positive effect can also spread across the whole of society.
Many believe everyone in the Plain community is anti-vaccine. In reality, their attitudes on the matter vary. Community leaders and researchers say this population’s thinking on vaccines has changed over the years, with interest sometimes rising and sometimes falling. Most recently, their interest in vaccines declined in reaction to the strict public health rules imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Because of the ongoing outbreak, many of them are now becoming interested in getting vaccinated. Yet the same situation is further fuelling doubt and distrust about vaccines among others. However, according to community leaders and experts, no ideological stance lies behind the decisions of most of those who avoid vaccines.
Background
According to a PBS NewsHour report on 19 August 2025, last year’s outbreak, which spread from the Mennonite community in Gaines County, Texas, infected 762 people; two unvaccinated children died.
By the numbers
According to a Medical Daily report on 26 October 2026, the CDC count shows 4,588 confirmed measles cases in the United States this year as of 22 October; the number of deaths on the CDC’s national list is three. The death figures differ between sources, compared with the state’s count.
According to a publication by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) on 21 January 2026, there were 2,144 confirmed measles cases in the United States in 2025.
Sources
Original report: Ajker Patrika
Background sources: PBS NewsHour/AP, 19 August 2025; Medical Daily, 26 October 2026; ASTHO, 21 January 2026
